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I was worried about the same thing when I first started but my cat can't be bothered to even look at the fish. I will hold her up to one of the tanks to look in and the fish will swim right up to her but she's just like... ya... whatever.

I know squirting her with a squirt gun has worked in the past to cure unwanted behaviour but then my sister's cat plays with the water as it's being shot.

Get a hood or thicker glass. My cat sits on all my tanks, and actually likes drinking the fish water for some reason.

She used to go fishing for them but after a year of trying and no luck, she just watches now. The fish don't seem to mind at all.

Cats can be persistent so the water spray didn't work. We used double sided tape which worked on an old tank but now the tanks are too big for that. As long as she doesn't bother the fish it's ok with me.

Sprinkle pepper on the canopy.

Odd though, my friend has an open tank and her cats don't hurt it...tehy drink out of it cos it's dechlorinated, but tehy never touch the fish...

These cats are pretty well trained,(they sit on command) but you cant dangle a carrot in front of them and expect them not to be curious. Fish are pretty exciting critters, and they are so colourful... I dont blame them for being interested.

Water doesnt seem to work, so we use water with some vinegar in it, which drives them nuts.

We have squirters and supersoakers all around the house.

Thing is, that i dont MIND them sitting on the tank. I like that they are interested, and the top of the tank is nice and warm.
Combine warmth with pretty skitty fishies and its cat heaven.
I could TRY to keep them off, but it wouldnt last forever, and what about when i'm not there to spray? It has to be safe enough then too.

$70 for Lexan?? EEK! I think i might stick with plexi as my budget is limited.

Cats only weigh about 4kg anyhoo, so thick plexi should be fine with that, even if i have to flip it over occasionally.

Erg.

It was SOOOO much easier when the house was heated and there were no cats! those were the days

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I looked after a friends cats for a few months and not once did they jump on top of the tank. They just sat infront of it and watched....for hours.

Just a thought but you could build a hood yourself out of wood. I Would of thought you can get wood strong enough to hold a cat without spending a fortune.

You could take a country approach and just make a little fence around the top of the tank...that way you could actually make a full prison system for your fish... (Insert corny Convict joke here)

The plexiglass should do fine though...

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

my cat jumped straight in to one of my tanks so he doesn't get on top of them any more. HE does sit and watch them all day and night. ( we call it the food channel] ) but he doesn't jump up any more.

You know that they say,"Curiosity killed the cat". If mine was that curious those words might come into play ]:|

Every time I see our cat attempt something, I have a water bottle ready for her she's learning.

my cat doesnt realize the concept of glass and paws at the fish through the glass. The fish and I find it hilarious. The fish auctually swim right up to the paw and investigate it.

Get rid of the cats!

I guess I'm lucky. All I needed to do is yell "DOWN" a couple times. And now the cats never even place a paw on the stand, let alone the tank itself. All they do is sit on the floor staring up at the fish.

Lexan would work, but is very expensive (the glass top on my car is made of lexan). Had you thought about a piece of plexiglass for the back 1/3 to set the light on and plywood for the front, painted black to match the tank?

You are lucky that your cats only weigh under 10 pounds.
One of my cats, Fire, weighs about 15 lbs, and he isnt at all interested in the fish one bit, but man, if my other cat Ice jumped on the top, it would probably be goodbye everything, he weighs in at 30+ lbs. He is a massive cat, only a little fat, mostly just overly huge in every way. His paws are almost as wide as Fire's neck.
Heres another suggestion, get a can or small glass jar, fill it with pennys. Whenever the cat goes near the top, shake the jar. Should give em one hell of a good scare. Keep it up and after awhile they should learn.


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The way I have taught my cats not to jump on things is to wrap pieces of scotch tape (Not the very sticky kind that will adhere to their hair) into circles and place them wherever I don't want the cats jumping-after a time or two of getting sticky feet they stay off for good. Won't help if you are using strofoam lids, but just thought I'd add my two cents.

just make a hood out of plywood. it cant be that hard to make

i agree with people that say condition the cats. i think that if you have the foil there for a while, the cats will get used to not being able to sit on it, and will eventually leave the tank alone

i think the foil is working... it looks awful, but it works

the styro lids were a makeshift measure, i just assumed they would test the strength before the bounced up, but obviously not!


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

My cat/s have always slepted on my tank top and never a problem in 25+years. I have always used 1/4 plate glass.

With the new tank I have a narrow 4ins piece at the front. I very quickly noticed it had no support at the end were they put the front paws to jump up. All I did was to add a small piece of glass to the end. I am talking about a 8lb+++ large cat.

Keith

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I'd like to see the cat that would dare approach the Leiarus pictusp I saw in a recent issue of Practical Fishkeeping ... this thing's big enough to swallow a Pekingese dog whole

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

So then i left that pone open, as i figured they would leave it alone (so far so good with that tank)

My tropical tank however is another story...

I dont know if you can make out the glass bowing...
Callatya attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/395225.jpg"]

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett