apartments and fishtanks

[bussardnr]

well im looking to move into an apartment. is it hard to find places that let you have lagre or mutiple aquariums?

 

[lyquidphyre]

Most of the time when you fill out applications for things, they will ask if you have pets (as in dogs or cats) and some applications will ask specifically if you have reptiles or aquariums.
I wouldn't mention that you have aquariums until they ask, or if you see it in your lease that they are not allowed. For the sake of moving, id suggest either the 1st or 2nd floor.

 

[Guest]

well, i just moved into a townhouse, but its the same general idea as an apartment, on our lease we had to put a deposit for the cats and they asked if we had any pets. It did specify "no water furniture" but i was guessing they meant water BEDS... Anyway, i didn't mention my aquaruim, and the maintence guys have commented on it "wow, thats really nice" and i haven't had any problems. It didn't say in the lease no aquarium, i guess technically i could get in trouble if it caused damage because it is "water furniture" but its downstairs on tile so im not worried about it. Anyway, read the lease, and if your comfortable with not mentioning it, then i would just not worry and set it up. But if your worried about it, then , well, just do what you feel is right.

 

[dr_girlfriend]

I live in an apartment, and as long as you have insurance they'll let you have a water bed, but nothing aquarium specific. If you dont already I highly recommend you get renters insurance and add extra for liability to cover any possible water damage. Renters insurance is very affordable and comes in handy. I pay $34 a month for $150,000 (I think) liability, waterbed coverage, and $50,000 in personal property coverage . Thats through USAA
It will cover theft of your property in your dwelling and you or your visitors car. When someone broke into my husbands car and stole 1200 worth of tools, they covered it.

 

[dr_girlfriend]

I just wouldnt say anything, unless it specifically says on your no aquariums. I've lived in 2 different complexes and looked at tons other and never seen no aquariums on a contract. But I would definitley get the insurance either way. And leasers like it when you have insurance too. If youre just starting out, and dont need alot of coverage you could probably pay around 10 bucks a month. Thats what we paid before we got a bunch of expensive stuff
Statefarm and I think allstate does too. If any of your family members are in the service definitley go through USAA
HTH

 

[MaryPa]

A gallon of water weighs a little over 8lbs. You need to know if the flooring is strong enough to hold the total wieght of your tank ( s ).

 

[greenmaji]

A gallon of water weighs a little over 8lbs. You need to know if the flooring is strong enough to hold the total wieght of your tank ( s ).

the weight distributed over each square foot is nominal.. I have had large tanks in 80 year old houses that had far from solid flooring without any problems.

as far as the lease is concerned most say no pets but in my experiance I have asked at all landlords about aquariums and they usually didnt consider fish tanks when writing there leases and always comment on how dogs or cats had done damage to there rental property in the past and that if the pet is permaniatly contained (like fish or caged animals) they are not concerned. They usually just dont what a cat or dog scraiching and/or chewing up there property.. (if all else fails proof of renters insurance in suffecent amounts to cover there potental losses in a "water damage" situation is enough to change a stringent landlords mind about aquaria on their property)

 

[dr_girlfriend]

unless your building is really, really old and decreped, it should be fine. I've lived on the top floor in both my apartments and had about 3-6 tanks and a king size waterbed with no problem. And our first place was an older building, built in the 70's, but it was sturdy.
If its a *really* big tank, for an extra precaution, try to place your tank across your floor beams rather than along their length, and a wider stand base will help spread out the weight.

 

[MaryPa]

Lol I live in a farm hose that` well over 100 yrs old and my floor has benn reenforced for more support. I`d hate to have my fish fall thru.

 

[Jchillin]

If the lease does not specially mention "No fish tank/aquariums. etc", you will not be in violation of the lease if you decide to have one. As Greenmaji states, you may want to have your renter's insurance cover you in the event of accidental spillage as all leases tend to indicate that the tenant is responsible for damages that they cause.

 

[severum mama]

I've also lived in many rental properties and I've never seen anything about aquariums in a lease, so you'll probably be fine. Renters insurance would be a good idea (wish I could afford it myself). My landlord actually thinks my 4 tanks are nice. I asked him about the weight of all the tanks on the floor and he wasn't worried about it, and my house is pretty old.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We just went through the process of moving and finding a landlord that would allow fish tanks. One said in the lease that they would not allow aquariums, one required a $500 deposit for the tanks ontop of the normal deposit, several said that they would not allow anything over 29 gal. We finally found one that didn't mind it, but we had to put an additional $100 non-refundable deposit down. I have seen leases that specifically say no aquariums. But our new landlord has a tank in their office, so I don't think that they mind.

 

[severum mama]

Hehehe... it would be awesome if your landlord would knock off some of your rent for maintaining their tank!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

When we were sitting in the office waiting for the rental officer I was looking at their tank and kept thinking, just if they knew that their tank is ALL wrong. It's a beautiful tank, but they just don't have it setup correctly. It's sad when you sit there and look at a beautiful tank and all you think about it, oh man, they can NOT keep those fish in that tank. It had a common pleco, a Koi, an albino frog, and some snails. All in a 10 gal tank where the water line was about 2 inches form the top. I just wanted to grab the tank and run.

 

[bussardnr]

you should show them how a tank should look

 

[severum mama]

It had a common pleco, a Koi, an albino frog, and some snails. All in a 10 gal tank where the water line was about 2 inches form the top. I just wanted to grab the tank and run.

AAAAHHHH! That's terrible. Did you see the post a while back about the pleco that had a bent spine from being in a tiny tank? 8O I think it might have been Greenmagi or Shawmutt that posted it, can't remember for sure.

you should show them how a tank should look

Apparently!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm hoping that the woman comes to show the apt and sees our tanks and realizes that you can't cram a bunch of fish in a tank.

 

[bussardnr]

sounds like it isnt that hard to find a place, thanks guys

 

[Fishyfanatic]

No, it isn't too hard to find a place. Just make sure if you have a large tank, that the house is on a slab. That was one of our biggest constraints.

 

[aqh88]

Our lease actually says no pets but when we asked they said we could keep small caged pets like the guinea pigs and fish tanks no problem. We did have to get renters insurance though. Since it's a basement apartment I actually upgraded from a 55g to a 90g. We also looked at 2 other places that allowed caged pets and smaller tanks. The reason for smaller tanks at one place was because they had a 90g go through the wood floor on the 2nd level. I think I'd stay at around 55g or less if I was keeping a tank in an upper level apartment. Alot of other apartments didn't allow tanks at all because they'd had too much floor damage either from 90g+ tanks or water spills. Hopefully our next move is to a house with a basement level. Although I'm not sure I want to maintain anything bigger than 90g. It's hard to reach the back when your short.