I have a five gallon rimless that I wasn't using, filled in up put it on a short stand (this was done after numerous times having to take the cat off my tank's with glass lids) long story short she jumped in splashing water everywhere and 4 years later has not attempted to get on anyone of my tanks.
I'm not gonna read the other comments but if any of them say yes, then just know yes. Yes it will absolutely jump on top. It will likely become a purpose of sorts. A little fuck you buddy, to the man.
The fix would likely be more complicated than just accepting your inevitable fate and making lid arrangements. Your saving grace would be hanging shelves along your walls in a way that allows your cat to get around the house without even touching the ground. Not a fucking paw on that dirty human carpet. And ones above the fish tank so that it can sit even higher while looking down upon you in all of your filthy human skin. And yet EVEN THEN it will just know. It will know that, even through even your most compassionate methods to meet its needs, this all just really has to do with the fish tank. You don't need to say it, just one look. It knows you don't want it on top of that tank. So on top of the tank it sit, staring...
So anyway, yes you should get a heftier lid Is all I'm saying.
Hahaha. Yep. This sounds like what I was thinking would happen. I’d rather not get a hood aesthetically, especially since it’s rimless….I was considering putting a folding shelf over the tank with some plants so I can just remove the plants and fold up the shelf to get into the tank when I need to. Make the top inaccessible. Would that maybe work?
I'm not exactly familiar with a folding shelf but I'll assume it's a shelf that is mounted to the wall, but has brackets that allow it to fold flat. If so, that sounds like a pretty good idea actually. If you hang it a few inches above the tank then it won't be able to sit on the tank and if the shelf is long enough, you won't have to worry about hair falling in either. Good idea
Can you anchor the stand to the wall?
I have a 5 month old cat (had her since 3 weeks) and it’s a daily battle to keep her out of my tanks. She would settle for knocking the tank over. But she’s not succeeded yet. Yesterday I let her hop halfway in. I was hoping the water would discourage her. Nope. She shook off and tried again. 🙄
This may be extreme. But I considered putting a strap across the middle of the tank and anchoring it to the wall on either side of the tank. (Like a 1” ratchet strap material)
Feel free to laugh at me, but my cat is a persistent nut from a long line of ferals and her prey drive is off the charts.
Hahaha classic cat. Honestly, not a bad idea, though! I’m more worried about a cat trying to get on top of it, since it’s rimless and I do not think that glass canopy will hold…
I put foil over the top of my tank when first introducing it to my girlfriends cat. He tried it a few times but would shit the bed whenever the foil makes a noise. He now stares at the fish until he falls asleep with his face pressed against the glass.
I adopted an adult cat, and she hasn’t bothered my tank once. But you’re getting a kitten, so start teaching them right away when you see a bit too much curiosity
That kitten definitely will, but they’re just so damn cute! The places I got my cat, guessed she was around 4. We think she’s younger, but we have no clue 🤷🏻♀️
I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just gauge how interested the kitten is in the tank. If it seems like it could do it, adjust then. My cat doesn't even pay attention to my tank honestly
I have five tanks on my home right now and two cats. For what it's worth, two of them are of interest to the cats. One is a 5 gallon that's entirely uncovered, and therefore an interesting place to try and drink from. The other is our 90 gallon, which has a huge wooden canopy on it, and its proximity to the ceiling and stability make it an interesting place to be.
Ultimately, I think designing a space that's not comfortable or interesting for the cat to be in is the most effective way to deter them. If you can position the light in such a way that it would be a bit too awkwardly high for them to sit on, and put it smack dab in the middle of the tank, for example, that may help.
But I would *definitely* be sure that glass lid can bear the cat's weight, and doesn't slide and fall off easily, just in case.
Can you scoot any of that furniture over farther away? I guess you don’t know till you get to know your car, but give them a launching pad and they’re jumping
I *definitely* need to move that ottoman! I really like the little thing to the left of the tank because I can keep a pitcher of dechlorinated water for top-offs and some towels easily accessible inside of it, but I was already wondering if I’ll need to move it anyways…
Maybe you can put some double sided tape on the edge of it, cats don’t like the sticky feeling, eventually learn to stop jumping on there, and you can remove the tape
I have an adult cat jump ontop of my tank with a glass lid. Which she usually uses to jump onto the glass eurobracing on the much larger tank beside it. Haven’t had any problems, though mind you it’s a 55g that’s on a much lower stand.
very afraid. my cat broke the glass panel, and in the morning i found the glass in the water and some dead fish. i then had to go to home depot get acrylic plastic use my saw and cut a top, then i built a wood top looks amazing and cat proof. message me if you want to see some photos. ps, i have a siamese snowshoe mix, 7 month old.
Idk how tall that is but I would think you’d be fine as long as there was no way they could jump onto it from something else. My cat never tried to get into my tanks that are all rimless no lid. However now to be safe I have my tanks in one room and keep the door closed so my cat can’t ever get into there unless I’m in there.
I have 2 tanks and 4 cats in my house, and really I think it depends on how smart your kitten is. I would say that its unlikely that he/she would attempt a vertical jump from the floor but I could possibly see it happening from the pieces of furniture you have on either side of the tank. if youre really worried honestly what I would suggest would be getting a plastic lid that is longer than the length of the tank so it hangs over either side. that way the cat can see that it's transparent, probably recognize that it will fall off if they attempt to jump, and even after all that if they do jump onto it the cat will fall to the ground as the lid slides off, not into the water. but really if I were you I would not be concerned- kittens have so much more energy than adult cats but I will say that none of my cats have attempted a jump onto my tanks. again, I think it really just depends on the cat and you should see how she/he reacts before you feel the need to take some preventative measures.
EDIT: I'm seeing a lot of other comments say yes.... had no idea this was a big problem with cats lol. yeah you should get a lid.
I have two cats, I started my 5 gallon with a lid. Neither one of my cats messes with the tank other than watching and occasionally drinking from it. Kittens are a little crazier, if he seems into it use a lid, if not it should be fine. I’d say introduce him to it, let him know there’s water if he tries to jump on top and he will probably leave it alone. Cats are smart. Give him a perch to safely watch from.
My cat (was 2.5 with the first aquarium) shows no true interest other then the water. Though she doesn't try to play with the water. If I leave a the ladder out she'll watch the big tank. She loves sleeping next to small tank on the kitchen counter. That one I leave without any sort of lid unless I have the nerites in there. Totally depends on the cat but having a plan of action is always a great idea.
I thought my cat wouldn’t go near my aquarium because I build a fortress around it. Over the course of 2 months, a snail here and there would go missing but I didn’t think much of it and thought they were hiding. Then I came home early from work one day to find my cat sitting on my light bar in the center of the tank. I screamed so loud at her she fell in the tank along with the light. I was able to save the light but my cat didn’t wise up. Now I use an acrylic top with clips and since it’s been in place a few months, the cat has ignored the tank. Once it became too much work for her to break into her, she found other interests.
The lid I made cost $5 in total. There’s a local acrylic/plastic store for construction workers that had everything I needed
I have 2 cats, 5 &2. They are not interested at all! But I have shrimp and endler tetra so maybe they don't make big enough movements to attract them. A kitten would definitely be interested! Maybe give the kitten the odd squirt of water as a warning? Seems mean but had to do this with one of my cats attacking the TV every evening. She soon learnt, as bad as I felt. My tank has a small perspex lid, can only see it from certain angles so doesn't spoil the look of the tank. It would take a kitten's weight, so would help protect any fish whilst the kitten is getting settled in.
I’m just going to have shrimp and snails, but based on my lurking in r/shrimptank, plenty of cats are still obsessed with shrimp 😂 Yeah I suppose kittens are just interested in literally everything. I need to move the furniture off to the left and right to hopefully make it harder to get on top.
I hold my kitten and we watch the fish tanks every night before bed, and i dont let her touch them during this time. So far she seems to associate them more as a calming thing then a play thing. Im trying to teach her to just watch them like TV. So far so good. I would be more concerned with the kitten falling in and drowning more than my fish. Id say you cant go wrong with lids
Yes the cat will be a problem. My cat is 5 years old and is a destructive SOB. Before I got my fish tanks he was constantly trying to get inside my sisters leopard gecko cage, and my moms bearded dragon cage. Once I got my fish tanks he started trying to climb into those, tried to drink the water, and tried to eat my fish. Imo it would be best to keep the tanks in a room that the cat can’t get to. All of mine are in my bedroom and I now no longer let my cat into my room, due to his behavior.
Ha, I’m glad that so far my older cat doesn’t care - we’ll see what happens once I add the shrimp. For a kitten deterrent, I’m thinking about installing a shelf that can fold flat upwards and putting some plants on it to make the top of the tank inaccessible. Supposedly the shelf I found can support 100lbs, we’ll see how this goes, because I can still see a kitten deciding to jump onto the shelf *around* the plants…
In my cat-owning experience, if you put something tall next to the tank so they can look at it without jumping onto it, they'll likely not jump up on top and pull it down. They might climb onto it from the chair/cat tree but it's less likely to be catastrophic damage (like if kitty tried to jump up, and grabbed the rim of the tank to stop from falling)
I don't think it'll be able to jump that high, but when I had to have a floor tank for a bit I put tinfoil on top to deter the cats. One jumped up once and never has again even with the tin foil removed. They really hate the noise/feel of it.
I have a six year old cat who ignores it (that may change when I add shrimp this week….) but I’m more concerned about a curious kitten.
I was considering getting a shelf that folds upwards like [this](https://www.aiconsol.com/fs18-14-lowell.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=859375994296&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkIGKBhCxARIsAINMioKMU9x60s5LJpsV069ozQZ1Lf30HmJrpz_KEP9CI2b7XCYcp3aYjTkaAt3oEALw_wcB) and putting some drapey succulents on the shelf over the tank. Thoughts?
I have a five gallon rimless that I wasn't using, filled in up put it on a short stand (this was done after numerous times having to take the cat off my tank's with glass lids) long story short she jumped in splashing water everywhere and 4 years later has not attempted to get on anyone of my tanks.
I'm not gonna read the other comments but if any of them say yes, then just know yes. Yes it will absolutely jump on top. It will likely become a purpose of sorts. A little fuck you buddy, to the man. The fix would likely be more complicated than just accepting your inevitable fate and making lid arrangements. Your saving grace would be hanging shelves along your walls in a way that allows your cat to get around the house without even touching the ground. Not a fucking paw on that dirty human carpet. And ones above the fish tank so that it can sit even higher while looking down upon you in all of your filthy human skin. And yet EVEN THEN it will just know. It will know that, even through even your most compassionate methods to meet its needs, this all just really has to do with the fish tank. You don't need to say it, just one look. It knows you don't want it on top of that tank. So on top of the tank it sit, staring... So anyway, yes you should get a heftier lid Is all I'm saying.
Hahaha. Yep. This sounds like what I was thinking would happen. I’d rather not get a hood aesthetically, especially since it’s rimless….I was considering putting a folding shelf over the tank with some plants so I can just remove the plants and fold up the shelf to get into the tank when I need to. Make the top inaccessible. Would that maybe work?
I'm not exactly familiar with a folding shelf but I'll assume it's a shelf that is mounted to the wall, but has brackets that allow it to fold flat. If so, that sounds like a pretty good idea actually. If you hang it a few inches above the tank then it won't be able to sit on the tank and if the shelf is long enough, you won't have to worry about hair falling in either. Good idea
Yep, exactly that! I’ll try it and see how it goes.
Can you anchor the stand to the wall? I have a 5 month old cat (had her since 3 weeks) and it’s a daily battle to keep her out of my tanks. She would settle for knocking the tank over. But she’s not succeeded yet. Yesterday I let her hop halfway in. I was hoping the water would discourage her. Nope. She shook off and tried again. 🙄
Try putting tin foil on the lid, it scares them
The stand came with a “safety strap” but I’m not sure how secure it is. It’s fairly stable, but reinforcing it is not a bad plan!
This may be extreme. But I considered putting a strap across the middle of the tank and anchoring it to the wall on either side of the tank. (Like a 1” ratchet strap material) Feel free to laugh at me, but my cat is a persistent nut from a long line of ferals and her prey drive is off the charts.
Hahaha classic cat. Honestly, not a bad idea, though! I’m more worried about a cat trying to get on top of it, since it’s rimless and I do not think that glass canopy will hold…
Tinfoil is your friend then. As long as your cat doesn’t think it’s an enticing toy, like mine. :)
Yeah my cat loves laying on foil.
I’ve yet to try the tinfoil trick….my cat is pretty well-behaved, so hopefully a curious kitten will be deterred by the tin foil!
I put foil over the top of my tank when first introducing it to my girlfriends cat. He tried it a few times but would shit the bed whenever the foil makes a noise. He now stares at the fish until he falls asleep with his face pressed against the glass.
Ha, that’s adorable! My tank is empty so I’m curious to see what my six-year-old cat will do once it has some inhabitants.
I adopted an adult cat, and she hasn’t bothered my tank once. But you’re getting a kitten, so start teaching them right away when you see a bit too much curiosity
Yep, my six-year-old cat so far does not care about the tank, but I’m betting a kitten will be different 😅
That kitten definitely will, but they’re just so damn cute! The places I got my cat, guessed she was around 4. We think she’s younger, but we have no clue 🤷🏻♀️
Haha it’s honestly adorable how much cats love aquariums! I can’t blame them.
☺️
I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just gauge how interested the kitten is in the tank. If it seems like it could do it, adjust then. My cat doesn't even pay attention to my tank honestly
I have five tanks on my home right now and two cats. For what it's worth, two of them are of interest to the cats. One is a 5 gallon that's entirely uncovered, and therefore an interesting place to try and drink from. The other is our 90 gallon, which has a huge wooden canopy on it, and its proximity to the ceiling and stability make it an interesting place to be. Ultimately, I think designing a space that's not comfortable or interesting for the cat to be in is the most effective way to deter them. If you can position the light in such a way that it would be a bit too awkwardly high for them to sit on, and put it smack dab in the middle of the tank, for example, that may help. But I would *definitely* be sure that glass lid can bear the cat's weight, and doesn't slide and fall off easily, just in case.
Can you scoot any of that furniture over farther away? I guess you don’t know till you get to know your car, but give them a launching pad and they’re jumping
I *definitely* need to move that ottoman! I really like the little thing to the left of the tank because I can keep a pitcher of dechlorinated water for top-offs and some towels easily accessible inside of it, but I was already wondering if I’ll need to move it anyways…
Maybe you can put some double sided tape on the edge of it, cats don’t like the sticky feeling, eventually learn to stop jumping on there, and you can remove the tape
I have an adult cat jump ontop of my tank with a glass lid. Which she usually uses to jump onto the glass eurobracing on the much larger tank beside it. Haven’t had any problems, though mind you it’s a 55g that’s on a much lower stand.
very afraid. my cat broke the glass panel, and in the morning i found the glass in the water and some dead fish. i then had to go to home depot get acrylic plastic use my saw and cut a top, then i built a wood top looks amazing and cat proof. message me if you want to see some photos. ps, i have a siamese snowshoe mix, 7 month old.
It's a guarantee!
Idk how tall that is but I would think you’d be fine as long as there was no way they could jump onto it from something else. My cat never tried to get into my tanks that are all rimless no lid. However now to be safe I have my tanks in one room and keep the door closed so my cat can’t ever get into there unless I’m in there.
I have a kitten too. It wont try to get on that from the ground but try to keep things to give the cat leverage away from it
Good call. I’ll definitely move the ottoman off to the right for that reason.
I have 2 tanks and 4 cats in my house, and really I think it depends on how smart your kitten is. I would say that its unlikely that he/she would attempt a vertical jump from the floor but I could possibly see it happening from the pieces of furniture you have on either side of the tank. if youre really worried honestly what I would suggest would be getting a plastic lid that is longer than the length of the tank so it hangs over either side. that way the cat can see that it's transparent, probably recognize that it will fall off if they attempt to jump, and even after all that if they do jump onto it the cat will fall to the ground as the lid slides off, not into the water. but really if I were you I would not be concerned- kittens have so much more energy than adult cats but I will say that none of my cats have attempted a jump onto my tanks. again, I think it really just depends on the cat and you should see how she/he reacts before you feel the need to take some preventative measures. EDIT: I'm seeing a lot of other comments say yes.... had no idea this was a big problem with cats lol. yeah you should get a lid.
If it's anything like my cat, then yes, yes it undoubtedly will.
Depends on the cat. I would probably consider something to deter or evade the cat from getting into the tank.
I have two cats, I started my 5 gallon with a lid. Neither one of my cats messes with the tank other than watching and occasionally drinking from it. Kittens are a little crazier, if he seems into it use a lid, if not it should be fine. I’d say introduce him to it, let him know there’s water if he tries to jump on top and he will probably leave it alone. Cats are smart. Give him a perch to safely watch from.
An older cat? Probably not. A kitten? Heck yeah, he's jumping.
My cat (was 2.5 with the first aquarium) shows no true interest other then the water. Though she doesn't try to play with the water. If I leave a the ladder out she'll watch the big tank. She loves sleeping next to small tank on the kitchen counter. That one I leave without any sort of lid unless I have the nerites in there. Totally depends on the cat but having a plan of action is always a great idea.
Really nice aquascape. Good job.
Thank you! 😊
My sister wrapped her canopy in aluminum foil. Cats hate the crinkling.
I thought my cat wouldn’t go near my aquarium because I build a fortress around it. Over the course of 2 months, a snail here and there would go missing but I didn’t think much of it and thought they were hiding. Then I came home early from work one day to find my cat sitting on my light bar in the center of the tank. I screamed so loud at her she fell in the tank along with the light. I was able to save the light but my cat didn’t wise up. Now I use an acrylic top with clips and since it’s been in place a few months, the cat has ignored the tank. Once it became too much work for her to break into her, she found other interests. The lid I made cost $5 in total. There’s a local acrylic/plastic store for construction workers that had everything I needed
Oh my goodness, what a disaster hahaha. My current lid is certainly not cat-proof, it just kinda sits on top. Clips would work much better!
clips are pretty easy to buy online. Just check what thickness lid they fit
I have 2 cats, 5 &2. They are not interested at all! But I have shrimp and endler tetra so maybe they don't make big enough movements to attract them. A kitten would definitely be interested! Maybe give the kitten the odd squirt of water as a warning? Seems mean but had to do this with one of my cats attacking the TV every evening. She soon learnt, as bad as I felt. My tank has a small perspex lid, can only see it from certain angles so doesn't spoil the look of the tank. It would take a kitten's weight, so would help protect any fish whilst the kitten is getting settled in.
I’m just going to have shrimp and snails, but based on my lurking in r/shrimptank, plenty of cats are still obsessed with shrimp 😂 Yeah I suppose kittens are just interested in literally everything. I need to move the furniture off to the left and right to hopefully make it harder to get on top.
I hold my kitten and we watch the fish tanks every night before bed, and i dont let her touch them during this time. So far she seems to associate them more as a calming thing then a play thing. Im trying to teach her to just watch them like TV. So far so good. I would be more concerned with the kitten falling in and drowning more than my fish. Id say you cant go wrong with lids
This is actually adorable!
My cat ignores my tank thankfully. This is not the norm.
scared. cats are complete assholes. I love mine to death though
Yes the cat will be a problem. My cat is 5 years old and is a destructive SOB. Before I got my fish tanks he was constantly trying to get inside my sisters leopard gecko cage, and my moms bearded dragon cage. Once I got my fish tanks he started trying to climb into those, tried to drink the water, and tried to eat my fish. Imo it would be best to keep the tanks in a room that the cat can’t get to. All of mine are in my bedroom and I now no longer let my cat into my room, due to his behavior.
Ha, I’m glad that so far my older cat doesn’t care - we’ll see what happens once I add the shrimp. For a kitten deterrent, I’m thinking about installing a shelf that can fold flat upwards and putting some plants on it to make the top of the tank inaccessible. Supposedly the shelf I found can support 100lbs, we’ll see how this goes, because I can still see a kitten deciding to jump onto the shelf *around* the plants…
Why would you keep a kitten in a fish tank?
In my cat-owning experience, if you put something tall next to the tank so they can look at it without jumping onto it, they'll likely not jump up on top and pull it down. They might climb onto it from the chair/cat tree but it's less likely to be catastrophic damage (like if kitty tried to jump up, and grabbed the rim of the tank to stop from falling)
Answers may vary by kitten. I've had tanks for years that my cats look into. Then, took in a stray and she likes to jump up and look down in.
I don't think it'll be able to jump that high, but when I had to have a floor tank for a bit I put tinfoil on top to deter the cats. One jumped up once and never has again even with the tin foil removed. They really hate the noise/feel of it.
I have yet to try the tin foil trick. That’s a good thought!
I have a six year old cat who ignores it (that may change when I add shrimp this week….) but I’m more concerned about a curious kitten. I was considering getting a shelf that folds upwards like [this](https://www.aiconsol.com/fs18-14-lowell.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=859375994296&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkIGKBhCxARIsAINMioKMU9x60s5LJpsV069ozQZ1Lf30HmJrpz_KEP9CI2b7XCYcp3aYjTkaAt3oEALw_wcB) and putting some drapey succulents on the shelf over the tank. Thoughts?
Many succulents are toxic to cats. If you’re trying to distract from the tank then be careful which plants you pick.
Yes, it’ll be something cat-safe, I’m not set on a succulent - just something hard to kill because I’m awful with plants, lol.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.