Seeing the recent posts on aquariums reminded me of something that happened years ago.

Back in the days when the cat here was young, I got an aquarium for Christmas. It was brought in on Christmas Eve. The cat took one look at the tank with the fish in it, and KNEW there had to be a way to get to that dinner! I mean, it had to be for him, right?

He circled the aquarium, and looked at it from every angle, trying to figure out a way to get at the fish.

Then he discovered that he could relax on the aquarium lid, since it was warm with the tank light. So the cat would be seen regularly sleeping on the fish tank.

That is, until the day came when the lid broke and he fell in...... (Wet cats are NOT happy cats, at least not here!) He stayed off the aquarium after that.

The cat finally did figure out a way though. You see, most fish tanks come with a way to recirculate the water, to clean it and oxygenate it. Well, this fish tank was no different. There was a pump behind the tank that pulled water out and through a filter hanging off the back of the aquarium. Then the water would go through another tube back into the tank.

The cat figured out that if the return tube was moved, the water went onto the floor, and the tank got emptied.

Fortunately, he was caught when the fish still had half a tank of water to live in.

When it comes to food, cats are geniuses.

Copyright © Brian Armstrong
November 10, 1999