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Well, lo, about 3 days ago, my other cat jumped up on that lid and went straight thru it, getting very wet in the process...
Callatya attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/395226.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

Ok, so tonight, i am sitting in the living room, and there is a big splash, and the BF starts yelling FISH! FISH! and i bolt out (after extracting myself from my craft, it was a bit tricky) to find a very wet floor and one poor rainbow platy looking very distressed next to the catfood bowls!

I shoved the fish straight back in (tho i doubt it will live, but we will see) and set about cleaning up...

Apparently the cat (the one pictured above) had been hanging on the left side of the tank FISHING!!!!

I dont know, i know its stupid, but i had thought that he would be too daft to catch anything and too scared to go near the water.... I dont know why, he lets me bathe him and he can open doors and the like, perhaps i was blinded by the love

Anyway, i called around and Roquen kindly loaned me her lids for the week (and her leaky tank, Which has almost enough sand in it to redo my axie tank!) BUT her lids are just as thin as mine (2-3mm glass) so i had to figure out a way to keep the devils off there...

My plan is as pictured.

Crunchy noisy aluminium foil!
Callatya attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/395229.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

Roquen's lids are underneath all that foil, and so far, its working ok. Amber (black cat) jumped up and bounced straight bck off as if she had been stung

This weekend i am getting 4-5mm glass lids cut for both the above pictured tanks.

BF doesnt know if that will hold tho, he wants me to get a hood for the trop tank (costs about $70, same as stand and same as tank) but i dont know if that will be any more secure... i suppose it will stop them fishing, but they will still jump on it, and it might be more likely to fly off and damage the tank....

Anyway, I would LOVE suggestions as to what i should do this has really been a kick in the guts.


AND A BIG BIG THANKYOU TO r00na for trying to help and giving me backup ideas for lidding and to Roquen for her wonderful lids! They will come back to you in one piece I PROMISE!



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

Callatya, you could always get some Jaguar Cichlids, Green Terrors or festae.

Any cat tangling with them has a death wish ...

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I would switch from glass to lexan or a thicker plexiglass. It will handle the stress and be able to bend more before it even possibly breaks. Your local glass shop should carry both. I used a lexan top on my 125 when it held growing out koi. That smashed the heck out of it but never had a chance of breaking it. The material is used for shop windows, bullet proof.

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Brill idea Koi! i hadn't even thought of that!
Thats what i'll do I'm sure the side braces will hold the weight, but the snapping is a proplem.

I was scared the cat would deglove its leg or at least gash it severely if it got stuck in the broken section, plexi or similar would be much safer!

And i am seriously considering it Cali! maybe even just a pair of very hungry goldfish!

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

U could get a dog

My cats are driving me nuts.

I dont have that many problems with fishkeeping these days, and most i can handle myself, but this one is near impossible

HOW DO YOU KEEP CATS OFF TANKS???

So far, i have tried the *idea* of covering. I tried keeping the heat in using the leftover stro... nope, that failed miserably

[span class="edited"][Edited by Callatya 2004-07-13 06:08][/span]
Callatya attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/395224.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

I am pretty confident snapping wouldn't be a problem. I had my piece spanning 6 ft with no center bracket support (old fashioned 125 gallon tank). I am confident a cat pouncing in the middle would certainly bend it but definately not break it. (unless you have some FAT cats )

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

I can say that Lexan is very strong. I've used it for some projects and it is very difficult to break. If you get a 1/4" thick piece it will be near impossible for you to break let alone the cat. Great idea Koi!

WoW and I had always been under the impression that cats would look but not touch .

I'd say train them, but *shrug* not everyone is into that...besides some cats never seem to learn (the one cat my parents have left has kinda been allowed to run free, she now jumps up on the table ).

As for the Lexan, good idea, just don't get sticker shock like I did last time I was looking for it. I never immagined a sheet of that stuff could be $70 ...I was so sure that Home depot had priced them wrong.

^_^



[span class="edited"][Edited by Babelfish 2004-07-13 10:29][/span]

I have hoods on my tanks, and my cats love to sit on them, so I can attest that they're definitely strong enough to hold the weight of even the fattest of cats ...

$70? Wow that's expensive! I suppose I should say Plexi not Lexan. We have a local plastic supply company and I can get plexi for about $3.00 / Square foot for the colored stuff.

Further proof that cats are evil and hell bent on world domination.

The black plastic hoods should be strong enough to hold the weight of any cat. I do think the tin foil, wile not that attractive will work.

You can get those ZAP collars that shock the heck out of them and lay the invisible fence under the rug around the tank.


[span class="edited"][Edited by phoneshannen 2004-07-13 14:19][/span]

I used to have a problem with my cat jumping up on the counter in the kitchen. The only way we were finally able to get her to stop doing this and other things she was doing was to squirt her with a water gun everytime we caught her in the act. It took a few times of getting sprayed, but she eventually got the point and we didn't have to worry about it anymore...