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Fishtank Friday: Fish Overpass

By Evan Ackerman on 01/18/08 • 147 Comments

Fish Overpass

By Evan Ackerman

When commuting fish need to get from home to work, their options are generally somewhat limited in a captive environment. This fish pipeline connects two fish tanks over a respectable distance (looks to be several tens of feet), allowing fish to travel from one tank, up and over the floor of a coffee shop, into the other tank. According to some of the comments in the article, the coffee shop in question is the now defunct Liquid Potion Lounge in Evanston, IL. One observer says: “They would often go up the tubes, but they’d rarely make it all the way to the other fish tank. I remember it being days before I finally saw a fish make it all the way across. Looked really cool though.” So, how does it work? From what I can tell, air gets pumped out of the top of the pipeline, drawing water up out of the tanks until the pipeline is full. Vacuum pressure then keeps the water from draining out. More pics of fish in the pipeline, after the jump.

Fish Overpass

Fish Overpass

Fish Overpass

Fish Overpass

VIA [ thecontaminated.com ]


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  • Anonymous

    A hamster run for fish – i’d like to see a hamster ball where a
    fish can roll itself around the room

  • Swacey

    I’m totally amazed that so many people would actually comment on a fishtank story. And before im eaten alive for doin the same thing, I’d just like to say the first comment drew me into this thing and once I reached the bottom, I had to throw my hat in the tank. Good luck to everyone, this was a pleasure.

  • mandi

    I think this is pretty cool. Now if you want to be cruel, all you have to do is build a cat walk alongside the tubes. Except, would you be cruel to the fish, or to the cats?

  • Anonymous

    ive always wanted to do that

  • Kit

    It’s basic – the guy who actually observed the tank set-up in action points out that the fish take several days to get part-way through the tubes, and rarely make it to the second tank – HELLO, there’s no way to FEED the fish lost in the tube..
    That’s what makes it cruel.
    Do they have 8 second memories ? Who cares ? They’re clearly not bright enough to get through the tube , or back to home base within time to EAT.

  • golden

    I bet they clean it from the top, 1/2half at a time, strong wire with a cloth maybe, you could be done in ten minutes.

  • emma

    well. That took a while to read.

    …but how do they feed the fish?

  • FishFoot

    That is so cool! Seems fun to swim in if I was a fish. Great idea. I would want that if I had fish, that’s a real gap in the market for cool tanks.

    I suppose it would also work for hamsters or other rodents/similar pets.

    Glad I made this stumble :p

  • discus

    well, suction or not, physics applies. Any physicians here? I thought the fish would have a hard time swimming so high against gravity. Can fish attain indefinite buoyancy? This is not a nice setup. A tube parallel to the lids would be more acceptable, but then people would tap on the tubes… I can’t decide which is more cruel. BTW, fish have long term memory, see link: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/1587710 .

  • Melly

    That is awesome… though, it would be funny to have some really evil, barracuda looking type of fish in there… scare the crap out of people >.

  • to peerpressure.

    you’ll probably never come back. but who cares. You’re from britain, half of your populace is just as stupid and petty ashalf of everyones populace. unfortunatly, the only half of the american populace who posts in places like this re 12 years old. For some weird reason, you europeans think they represent all of us. here’s my theory, correct me if i’m wrong. you’re 12 year olds are just s immature and stupid as ours. maybe more. suck it.

  • billy bob

    do you think I need to get a permit to write in this . or just poach

  • Joe (Not the same one)

    This is really cool, imagine what it’d be like if you made like a grid going across the ceiling for fish! =D I would so do this, if I had fish.
    Sorry, but I have to.
    Fish have brains, STARFISH don’t, and fish have feelings, we are all evolved from fish, millions of years ago, so they have to be pretty damn clever. Plus they’ll last long after us, as long as we don’t over-fish.

  • http://janelle77 janelle

    COOL!

  • http://WWW.prickely.com Matthew

    I can not believe there have been this many comments on something so insanely stupid. The owners of this coffee bar must be on crack.

  • stevie

    Gazman is a dick!

  • cold pie

    i really enjoyed reading all this, tank looks gr8, the fish wudnt go up there if it was uncomfy for them, the cleanin and all that looks rather impractival, but if the guy set it up im shore hes got it sorted,
    gazman ur a twat, itheres plenty of tank, they dnt av to go dwn the tunnels they choose to,
    pease out

  • belac

    Hahaha you guys all crack me up! Look at that fish's face he is so pumped on life.

  • -PooPoo

    Hey those are Texas Cichlids. Sweet.

  • -PooPoo

    Hey those are Texas Cichlids. Sweet.

  • jade

    i love it what a great idea i have fish that jump so this would save them the trouble lol jade

  • fish R shitting over your head

    What a great idea. The should come up with something like this for hamsters and gerbils…Oh ya they already did, the human ass.

  • fish R shitting over your head

    What a great idea. The should come up with something like this for hamsters and gerbils…Oh ya they already did, the human ass.

  • Brad

    are you serious cruel? how stupid are you

  • http://www.pauldingkidszone.com/ drsd
  • lomphy

    OMG I WANT ONE

    that thing is amazing, an incredible piece of fish tank thing

  • Anonymous

    Chill out my man. Why do you always take the fishes side haha. Dont worry if someone dosent provide scientific data when making such a trifle statement about a trifle subject. And ultimately it does just look cool. I dont think they had the fish in mind when constructing such a controversial piece of architecture haha.

  • NoirRaven

    Oh yes. Giving them MORE SPACE TO ROAM is just HORRIBLE. We should all just trap our poor little fishies in to one tank that's way too small for them. e.e Dude, come on. It would be cruel to make them JUMP from tank to tank but to build them a specially designed fish pathway? That's awesome.

  • dcace94

    i dont get how its cruel when its the fishes' choice to go in the tube or not

  • useddiggerderrick

    So cool. I want one where I work.

  • http://fatloss4idiots-diet.net fat loss 4 idiots

    Archive & Fishtank Friday: Fish Overpass. WOW! Cool. When commuting fish need to get from home to work!

  • http://fatloss4idiots-diet.net fat loss 4 idiots

    Archive & Fishtank Friday: Fish Overpass. WOW! Cool. When commuting fish need to get from home to work!

  • mayer501

    Interesting idea, though that pump on top would require perfect maintenance as failure, even a marginal loss of vacuum pressure, would quickly remind the owner of water pressure by easily overflowing those tiny tanks, hopefully there is some kind of fail safe.

    Oh… and cleaning algae is bad enough in a small 5 gallon fish tank w/o a complicated vacuum pump/ fishy overpass. I hope the filters are powerful and reliable too… a water change on that thing would take an excruciatingly long time.

    Sorry to be a buzzkill, but this just seems like a bad idea to me and the place going out of business does little to change my mind, a few ground level aquariums would be nearly as nice, cheaper, and could even have a tube connecting them w/o the microscopic margin for error.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Lauren-Cooper/1643206895 Lauren Cooper

    Physics- as long as the tube is airtight and the water level of the two tanks is equal (equal distance above the ground) there will be no water flow between tanks, and so of course no overflow. If you don't believe me, go get two bowls of water and a plastic tube and try it yourself morons. The comment in the article about the pump is simply a description of how they filled the acrylic tube portion of the tank the first time they set it up.

    Cruelty: All you idiots who think this is cruel, have you ever noticed that in the wild fish live in underwater cave complexes, or swim through narrow sections in rock or coral to get to another location? This is a completely normal behavior and the fish are not suffering as a result. If you feed the fish in a certain area of the tank they learn that that is where they are normally fed and will anticipate food there. You could alternate ends I suppose to get the fish to swim through the tank more.

    Cleaning: yeah, this would be a bitch

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000512425882 Mare de Lira

    cool !!! but the tanks should be waaay bigger !

  • http://twitter.com/JillyFish44 Jillian Imler

    The only thing I would be worried about is having labyrinth fish (that have a lung-like breathing system) not be able to get to the surface for air while they are in the tube. Bettas are labyrinth fish, as are most gouramis. The cichlids they have in there should be good to go though. This isn't a cruel system, those of you that say the pressure changes would hurt them have obviously never been scuva diving. The pressure would be less in the tubes as they have less water pressure above them, however, the height is not a great enough difference to really make a significant change in air pressure around them. When you stand on a ladder can you really sense the change in air pressure? They will be quite alright. As far as if the pump goes out, I can see the possiblity of the water overflowing the tanks, but I'm sure they made a safegaurd against that. I really am not sure about the physics about that so Lauren Cooper might be right about that. I say the tank is safe and having worked around fish for the better part of ten years, I am big on giving fish the ideal environment. I wouldn't consider it a natural environment, but I would say it's not harmful.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kati-Clary/1192336556 Kati Clary

    Your an idiot, learn to speak english before you make fun of americans. Fuckin stupid ass.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=509862940 Alex Saringer

    “Your” should be “You're”
    “english” and “americans” should be capitalized.
    You might want to learn to speak English yourself before you go criticizing others. I guess it wasn't your turn with the brain cell when you wrote this comment.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5FITAICGUMIO2CRP732YHSB5C4 sean

    Your “You’re” should have a period after it. Your “English” should not be capitalized. Your “zombies” should not be able to run so fast.

  • http://twitter.com/023rivera023 Stephanie GeNeVa

    You go Lauren!  Tell them!  PS: I want this in my house!  Where are the blueprints?!  

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SNXDT552FZDEL7QY45JAOVUE4M Elijah

    im from Alabama n that ther is just bout right. Everyone here lives in a trailer and is married to their cousin. but ya cant blame us,ya see its all the inbreedin’,its made us right out retarded.  

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SNXDT552FZDEL7QY45JAOVUE4M Elijah

    lol just kidding. I think that its just a matter of convinience and laziness rather than lack of intelegence. With technology these days grammer is just not as important. And peerpresure what has Britain done for the world. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kim-Kay/100003229565179 Kim Kay

     /facepalm

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/5INJRQQRUC4J5JJAP42CGCI5BE Blake

    /facepalm
    #friendship

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/5INJRQQRUC4J5JJAP42CGCI5BE Blake

    a tragic fish related accident… hmmm sounds like user error to me

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/5INJRQQRUC4J5JJAP42CGCI5BE Blake

    What is this stupid argument about?
     
    The UK and the US are friends (END OF DISCUSSION)
     
    Grammar doesn’t matter on the interweb (END OF DISCUSSION)
     
    there children… happy?

  • http://dbakeca.com Dbakeca Italia

    nice idea

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