Animal Cruelty or Animal Hilarity?

I have a beautiful 55 gallon Lake Malawi Cichlid tank fully stocked
with happy, healthy friends. I also have a house full of kitty cats!

Generally, the cats ignore the tank, but lately the "Alpha Male" of the
group (appropriately named Maximus) has taken an interest to my prized
fishies. The top of the tank is closed off by Marineland glass doors
and holes are cut to size on the plastic backing just large enough for
the Eheim tubes to fit thru. Still, I worry about this somewhat large
cat getting curious atop the tank. I'm not concerned about him falling
thru. Instead, I worry that he'll remove the flourescent light (he's
scooted it very successfully nearly knocking it off already). After the
light is off, it's just a matter of moments before he goes fishin'.

So far, the best idea I've had (and thus the subject of this post) is
to get a small battery operated motion detector to perch atop the tank
and wait for Max to trespass. Upon sensing the cat, the alarm will
shriek and scare the crap out of him and make him run away. I figure 2
or 3 times is all it will take to remedy his curiosity if the alarm is
loud enough. I'd want a surveillance cam to capture the fun too - just
for giggles.

Would anyone here have any more humane ideas on how to cat-proof my
tank?

Kill the cat!

On 31 Dec 2006 14:26:15 -0800, wrote:

I have a beautiful 55 gallon Lake Malawi Cichlid tank fully stocked
with happy, healthy friends. I also have a house full of kitty cats!

Generally, the cats ignore the tank, but lately the "Alpha Male" of the
group (appropriately named Maximus) has taken an interest to my prized
fishies. The top of the tank is closed off by Marineland glass doors
and holes are cut to size on the plastic backing just large enough for
the Eheim tubes to fit thru. Still, I worry about this somewhat large
cat getting curious atop the tank. I'm not concerned about him falling
thru. Instead, I worry that he'll remove the flourescent light (he's
scooted it very successfully nearly knocking it off already). After the
light is off, it's just a matter of moments before he goes fishin'.

So far, the best idea I've had (and thus the subject of this post) is
to get a small battery operated motion detector to perch atop the tank
and wait for Max to trespass. Upon sensing the cat, the alarm will
shriek and scare the crap out of him and make him run away. I figure 2
or 3 times is all it will take to remedy his curiosity if the alarm is
loud enough. I'd want a surveillance cam to capture the fun too - just
for giggles.

Would anyone here have any more humane ideas on how to cat-proof my
tank?



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

howled at the moon, then scrawled thusly upon the aether:

[kitty wanting to go fishing]
So far, the best idea I've had (and thus the subject of this post) is
to get a small battery operated motion detector to perch atop the tank
and wait for Max to trespass. Upon sensing the cat, the alarm will
shriek and scare the crap out of him and make him run away. I figure 2
or 3 times is all it will take to remedy his curiosity if the alarm is
loud enough. I'd want a surveillance cam to capture the fun too - just
for giggles.

Would anyone here have any more humane ideas on how to cat-proof my
tank?

Actually, either that (similar designs are actually on the market) or
something that just doesn't feel right under kitty's paws (such as double-
sided tape) are generally the most effective and humane ways to train your
cats as to where they Must Not Go. www.drsfostersmith.com has some training
aids in their cat supplies section, as does www.thatpetplace.com .

Maeve ^..^ with nosy cats of her own
--
Throw out the baby with the bathwater to contact me.
http://volatiledreams.deep-ice.com
http://books.dreambook.com/volatiledreams/blog.html

Tristan wrote:
Kill the cat!


Yeah, but you've never hidden the fact that you don't like cats have you
Tristan???? :-)

My cat doesn't get a look in with the tanks....he sometimes watches them
as "Cat TV" but knows darn well he can't get in - afterall the gaps are
very small for the filter tubes etc.....and if he did...he would get a
bigger shock than the fish....I rather think a soggy moggy would lose so
much dignity that he wouldn't care less about catching any fish.....

No need for anything else.....if the cat does get in once....there is no
way he will do it a second time.....

Gill

wrote in message
oups.com...
Would anyone here have any more humane ideas on how to cat-proof my
tank?
===================
I also had cats in the past (none right now) and all ignored the tanks
except one cat, and that was years ago. After falling into a 20L she never
tried that again. Maybe removing the glass and reflector to kind of help
him fall in once will cure his fishy curiosity. That is if he's not wearing
a flea collar. ;-)
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
Tristan wrote:
Kill the cat!


Yeah, but you've never hidden the fact that you don't like cats have you
Tristan???? :-)

My cat doesn't get a look in with the tanks....he sometimes watches them
as "Cat TV" but knows darn well he can't get in - afterall the gaps are
very small for the filter tubes etc.....and if he did...he would get a
bigger shock than the fish....I rather think a soggy moggy would lose so
much dignity that he wouldn't care less about catching any fish.....

No need for anything else.....if the cat does get in once....there is no
way he will do it a second time.....


Not necessarily, some cats don't mind getting wet. My mum had a cat that
used to like to shower with her.

Jen

mouse traps (the snap kind) work great. just set a few on top iof the tank,
and watch kitty spaz when it sets one off (I've never seena cata ctually
get caught by the snap traps, but the sudden movement and "snap" sound will
put them into orbit...)


wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a beautiful 55 gallon Lake Malawi Cichlid tank fully stocked
with happy, healthy friends. I also have a house full of kitty cats!

Generally, the cats ignore the tank, but lately the "Alpha Male" of the
group (appropriately named Maximus) has taken an interest to my prized
fishies. The top of the tank is closed off by Marineland glass doors
and holes are cut to size on the plastic backing just large enough for
the Eheim tubes to fit thru. Still, I worry about this somewhat large
cat getting curious atop the tank. I'm not concerned about him falling
thru. Instead, I worry that he'll remove the flourescent light (he's
scooted it very successfully nearly knocking it off already). After the
light is off, it's just a matter of moments before he goes fishin'.

So far, the best idea I've had (and thus the subject of this post) is
to get a small battery operated motion detector to perch atop the tank
and wait for Max to trespass. Upon sensing the cat, the alarm will
shriek and scare the crap out of him and make him run away. I figure 2
or 3 times is all it will take to remedy his curiosity if the alarm is
loud enough. I'd want a surveillance cam to capture the fun too - just
for giggles.

Would anyone here have any more humane ideas on how to cat-proof my
tank?

Wow. These are all great ideas. Today I reached the breaking point when
the cat decided it would be fun to see what would happen if he tried to
climb the green tubes in the back of the tank. I was napping on the
sofa when my wife screamed "SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOUR FISH!". The
eheim filter had pumped a couple of gallons on our new hardwood floor!
So, these suggestions are very timely!

As a first measure, I took the floor mats out of my car and laid them
upsinde down in back and on top of the tank (prickly side up). We'll
try that for a little while to see if any lessons are learned, although
I think the cat may be smart enough to recognize when they're removed,
so mouse traps might be a better permanent solution. :-)

wrote:
Wow. These are all great ideas. Today I reached the breaking point when
the cat decided it would be fun to see what would happen if he tried to
climb the green tubes in the back of the tank. I was napping on the
sofa when my wife screamed "SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOUR FISH!". The
eheim filter had pumped a couple of gallons on our new hardwood floor!
So, these suggestions are very timely!

As a first measure, I took the floor mats out of my car and laid them
upsinde down in back and on top of the tank (prickly side up). We'll
try that for a little while to see if any lessons are learned, although
I think the cat may be smart enough to recognize when they're removed,
so mouse traps might be a better permanent solution. :-)

A mouse trap is a ridiculously cruel idea. If one of them caught a
cat's paw it would snap the tiny bones in it. I'm sure you wouldn't
want to do that to your cat.
Please don't even try this ridiculous suggestion.

wrote:


So far, the best idea I've had (and thus the subject of this post) is
to get a small battery operated motion detector to perch atop the tank
and wait for Max to trespass. Upon sensing the cat, the alarm will
shriek and scare the crap out of him and make him run away. I figure 2
or 3 times is all it will take to remedy his curiosity if the alarm is
loud enough.

Probably the opposite: After 2 or three times loud noise without serious
consequences the cat will ignore the sound and go about its (un)lawfull
business.

The best option is to mechanically secure your setup so the cat can't
get the lid off. Also there are certain plants which cats (and dogs)
don't like and which could be placed on top of the tank. Never had them
in a closed room though and don't know how much smell they produce.