Cat whacks Fish

[duc]

full story at 5 only on MAAST News your #1 source for local information :P
Had to do it before someone else did.

Seriously though the cat watches and has started (recently) smacking the top of the water. It started with the new addition (maroon clown) who swims mostly (tank laps) on the top of the tank, today she made contact. According to my wife she actually "whacked" the fish, not sure if she physically saw the paw touch the fish or assumed it did.
Will the fish learn to stay low?
Will this stress the fish out?
Anyone else ever have this happen?
Clif

[Reef69]

It will most defenately stress the fish, and it will get your water dirty..

[DeletedAccount]

Shoot the cat..... Save the fish!

No, seriously, though, I would possibly look into an egg crate lid or something on those lines. Cats are good at swatting the fish out of the water and gobbling them up. And, personally, I find that my maroon is a VERY slow learner!

[GaryP]

Put an anemone in the tank and the Maroon will stay near it.

Cats are not a natural predator of reef fish, at least I've never seen one standing on top of a reef waiting for a clown to come along.

[StephenA]

I made my cats taste the water and they stay away now.

[jaded]

unique approach... I LIKE IT!!!

[DeletedAccount]

My maroons host in their anemone, but the female wanders all around the 120 constantly. She leaves the poor little boy to babysit the eggs!

[GaryP]

Mine jumped up on my tank once. The only problem was that I took the hood off to replace some bulbs. After licking saltwater off its fur all day I never had that problem again.

[StephenA]

She leaves the poor little boy to babysit the eggs!

Typical woman >_<

[duc]

I made my cats taste the water and they stay away now.
Mine plays in the water and uses it a water bowl, the tasting thing isn't gonna work on her she likes it.
Clif

[duc]

Put an anemone in the tank and the Maroon will stay near it.

Cats are not a natural predator of reef fish, at least I've never seen one standing on top of a reef waiting for a clown to come along.
Do you know one that will survive in a low light FO tank? Everyone tells me I don't have enough light to keep anything other than a condy alive.

168W in a 125 tank

Clif

[captexas]

Get a water gun and shoot the cat everytime it get's near the tank. It shouldn't take too long to learn to stay away :)

[GaryP]

Clif,

No, that's not enough light. I didn't know it was a FO tank.

[duc]

Get a water gun and shoot the cat everytime it get's near the tank. It shouldn't take too long to learn to stay away :)
Two problems with that:
1. That doesn't work on her my wife has tried it for other things.
2. The cat is the reason I got back into tanks and all the stands I make have a ledge built for her to sit/lay/play on.
Clif

[duc]

Clif,

No, that's not enough light. I didn't know it was a FO tank.
Whats the minimum light you recommend/suggest for a host anemone?
Clif

[captexas]

Well I'd definately put some eggcrate over the top then. Even if the cat is just pawing at the fish out of curiousity, I'd be worried about hurting/killing the fish. Only bad think about the eggcrate is that the cat might think it is a stable surface and try standing/sitting on it. Other idea is to build a canopy to sit over the top of the tank so that cat can't reach the water surface.

[duc]

Well I'd definately put some eggcrate over the top then. Even if the cat is just pawing at the fish out of curiousity, I'd be worried about hurting/killing the fish. Only bad think about the eggcrate is that the cat might think it is a stable surface and try standing/sitting on it. Other idea is to build a canopy to sit over the top of the tank so that cat can't reach the water surface.
I was thinking egg crate but a canopy sounds good to, more work but cooler in the long run.

[Instar]

A maroon clown doing laps at the surface is a sad sign. Has it ever eaten anything for you? The cat started this with the maroon, didn't it? As with all predators, even the cat, they recognize a problem and will instinctively remove it from the herd or in this case, the reef school (herd).

[duc]

A maroon clown doing laps at the surface is a sad sign. Has it ever eaten anything for you? The cat started this with the maroon, didn't it? As with all predators, even the cat, they recognize a problem and will instinctively remove it from the herd or in this case, the reef school (herd).
It will come to you if you get near the tank and it eats like a pig, every feeding and anything in between and finds. It swims with the current and against the current depending on its mood I guess. Still sound bad or just a crazy fish? It doesn't just swim laps but it does swim a lot of them, any suggestions as to a fix/what could be wrong? I cat likes to watch and play in the water, has always done it but it now has something at/near the top to see better and smack at is my thinking.

[RobertG]

I think the cats should not be allowed to play at the tank. So a sitting area is against me. Sorry. I have an inwall tank & my cat seems to slap at the glass allday. This is the writing on the wall so to speak.

[DeletedAccount]

Happy cats y'all have though, huh?

[mathias]

my cat swated at my oscar one time and the oscar bit it.... so now the cat is scared of the fish I know he is such a **** punk

[Instar]

My cat has his blenny. Its true love, I'm sure of it.
As for the laps and the maroon, do you have any way to check for stray voltage? A maroon doing laps, swimming into the current at or near the surface, even if eating, is still not a good sign at all. I'm betting for something wrong somewhere, either with the fish or in the water. There are some crazy fish, but, since this is a new purchase I'm thinking something is not ok with the fish. Wouldn't want something to happen to your other fish because of not being cautious. Maybe pm Richard and see what he thinks about this.

[jroescher]

Stray vaoltage. Now that would teach the cat a quick lesson!

[alton]

I put glass tops on after my cat fell in once, after that though I can say he never went near it again!

[C.Mydas]

RobertG- Pretty kitty! Ill take a frag when you get one!

My cat could care less..she is too lazy to be bothered with trivial concepts such as movement (hers or anyhting elses)

Nobody has mentioned the effect all this salt water has on cats. Im no expert but I would assume that it cant be good for them especially if the corals get ticked about something and start releasing toxins. I would do eggcrate to protect everybody.

I love the ledge on the stand idea...happy cats make for a happy home!...