Birds Can Fly Underwater? Say Hello to Dual-Purpose Custom Aquariums

For pet lovers, getting all of your beloved furry (or scaled) companions to get along can be tricky. Cats and dogs don’t always see eye-to-eye, and you could definitely run into a messy situation if you have a cat and an aquarium. If only there were some way to encourage peaceful coexistence between your pets!

Oh, but there is. French designer Constance Guisset made this duplex aquarium-bird cage combo. This art piece breaks the mold by reversing the sky-ocean dynamic. For the first time in history, birds can fly below fish and fish can swim above birds.

The duplex has a bird cage on the lower level, which provides ample elbow room wing room to flit about the cage. There’s also a dome-shaped bubble at the top of the cage that allows the bird to hang out with his goldfish buddy. I imagine that the bird would get a kick out of the novelty, but you kind of have to wonder whether or not the goldfish is constantly terrified. After all, out in the wild the only time that birds and fish ever interact is when birds swoop down and snatch fish out of the water. Fish really have a rough deal, don’t they? Most aquarists have to worry about making fish compatible with other fish, not to mention making their fish compatible with the family cat or bird.

What I like most about the duplex is how the two individual habitats enhance each other. What do you think the primary focus of the duplex is: the aquarium or the bird cage? Neither — the two habitats work together to create a cohesive aquatic art piece that combines sky and ocean into a bizarre and beautiful arrangement.

The whole point of this article isn’t to highlight Guisset’s imagination or an unlikely friendship between a goldfish and a parakeet. My objective is to point out that aquariums can easily serve a dual purpose. What dual purpose, exactly? Anything you want!

For example, this aquarium was used as a dance floor and this aquascapepowered a Christmas tree display. Most custom aquariums act as a centerpiece or a room, but they can pull in other elements from interior designthat compliment or enhance their role in a living space. Check out the aquarium in the picture below.

What’s the focal point? The aquarium or the bookshelf? Once again, the answer is neither. The eye-catching aquarium is what immediately draws your attention, but the rectangular shape of the aquarium creates a visual parallel with the other square-shaped boxes on the book shelf. This encourages the viewer’s eye to wander over the dozens of geometric shapes across the bookshelf. The four crystal orbs and the light blue books accent the aquascape. This is neither a bookshelf nor an aquascape — it’s a stunning art piece that fuses aquascaping with modern design.