Physics-defying fish tank is a disaster waiting to happen

Blub blub?

(Credit: Higo Blog)

(Credit: Higo Blog)

Over in Japan, the Oita Marine Center features a funky fish tank that seemingly defies the laws of gravity, matter, and sensibility: thanks to some vacuum technology, the fishies can swim "out" of the tank so that you can feed them, pat them, etc.

Cool, yes, but this would be an absolute atrocity if anything went wrong. Those poor fish! Though I must say, some hilarity would certainly ensue if water started randomly spewing out all over a crowd of unsuspecting aquarium patrons. But still...those poor fish!

(Via Geekologie)

[make_or_break]

Um...don't fish JUMP???

As a kid, I remember losing a few fish as a result of them practicing their Michael Jordan slam dunks (okay, back in the day it was more like Dr. J...a [i]young[/i] one, that is). Even with the lid in place, one or two even managed to find the slim uncovered openings where the filter tubes, tank heater or air line snaked into the aquarium, only for me to find them later on blanched and dried out on the bedroom floor.

Stupid fish.

[LancerReiNi]

Not all fish are capable of jumping.

A previous commenter questioned the possibility of jumping. Certain fish(especially predatory) are capable of jumping but not all are able to do so.

A comment to the author of this post, I think(pretty certain) that the creators of this tank would've already placed precautionary measures against any form or types of leaking this setup might incur. Just like underwater aquariums watch, to fool proof their tanks in many aquariums in the states. The only concern I would have is definitely for the fish. Anyone whose ever visited a well set up aquarium has surely seen petting dens for star fish, and other types of marine or freshwater animals. A lot of locations will not allow any form of human interaction due to the changes in pH when human contact is involved. We're(humans) all prone to contracting different chemicals on our skin and therefore when touching different species especially endangered ones should really be decontaminated first. I would venture to guess that the types of fish in these gravity defying tanks are specific and have been tested to handle the change in the chemical balance.

[conory15]

Umm.... To the author of this post:
They would not have been stupid enough to not put fail-safes on the tank. If you did your research (try doing that) you might have realized they had a very good drainer (that doesn't kill the fish, yay) that sucks the water to a certain level before allowing more water to fall out. In the event of losing too much water (they have a mechanical measuring device) the drain will open allowing water to flow into a reservoir. They also have several monitors pointed at the "vacuum" to monitor electricity levels and maintain the machine.