Cats and Fish?

I was thinking about maybe getting a little goldfish, or a little betta fish. Anyone have any issues between cats and fish? I imagine I will have to cover the top of the tank or else my cats will scoop the little thing out and eat him.

 

When I had a betta for several years, my cat would watch it through the glass. But your average fish tank has a lid that opens to let you feed the fish.
Unless Pussington has opposable thumbs, she shouldn't be able to open the fish tank lid.

 

Yay I was considering a little Betta fish. They are fairly sneaky at getting into things, but I was thinking if I could even put a net / mesh over the top of it with the lid as well, It might help. I hear Betta's need a lot of air.
Whats your tank set up? I was thinking of getting a big tank for my coffee table for the Betta, so it would have no access to electricity, but I hear they need heat?

 

If you have a closed tank then your cat will just enjoy watching it and it should be fine. I had a beta in a large fish bowl and the cat would not stop trying to hop on the counter and grab it. I caught him trying to reach for it on multiple occasions and then changed tanks.

 

Yeah I think it really has to have some sort of lid on it, my guys are just so curious, they would scoop the poor little thing up likely kill it.

 

Keeping single betta seems to be a current trend in the States. They can live in poor quality high temperature water but it's not recommended. A small under-gravel filter powered by an air pump will provide adequate filtration for one. The tank would need to have a very secure lid. While your cat appears to be ignoring the newcomer he's really waiting for you to go out before giving the tank a major assault.
Once he's satisfied himself that there's no way in he will start to ignore it.

 

I just have a small Minibow aquarium (2 gallons ,I think). Some people try to put too many fish in them, but it's the right size for a betta. It came with an under gravel filter but those are messy to clean so I bought an Azoo Mignon Filter which is a cute and powerful filter for small tanks. The top of the tank has a small door that you can open to put food in, but a cat couldn't get in. A cat might try to sit on the black lid because the tank light will make it warm, but they can't open it.

 

Caught in the Act:

 

Awww your little fish tank is lovely! Is that tank for the betta fish only? By the way, bettas don't need heating and can live well in reduced spaces. They can do very well with little oxygen, but if you leave the lid open... the betta fish might jump out. Once mine did! I found it after several minutes lying on the floor, I throwed it back into the aquarium... after some minutes it started moving! Those little fish are very strong!

If you get a betta fish, make sure to get him some company. Don't get another betta fish tho, if you do... those two will fight to death!