Wiki - In the
Roman Empire, the first fish to be brought indoors was the
sea barbel, which was kept under guest beds in small tanks made of marble. Introduction of glass panes around the year 50 AD allowed Romans to replace one wall of marble tanks, improving their view of the fish. In 1369, the
Hongwu Emperor of China established a
porcelain company that produced large porcelain tubs for maintaining
goldfish; over time, people produced tubs that approached the shape of modern fish bowls.
[3] Leonhard Baldner, who wrote
Vogel-, Fisch- und Tierbuch (Bird, Fish, and Animal Book) in 1666, maintained
weather loaches and
newts.
[4]
Saltwater
Wiki - In 1832,
Jeanne Villepreux-Power, a pioneering French marine biologist, became the first person to create aquaria for experimenting with aquatic organisms. In 1836, soon after his invention of the
Wardian case, Dr.
Nathaniel Bagshaw Wardproposed to use his tanks for tropical animals. In 1841 he did so, though only with aquatic plants and toy fish. However, he soon housed real animals. In 1838,
Félix Dujardin noted owning a
saltwater aquarium, though he did not use the term.
[5] In 1846,
Popular saltwater
Wiki - Germans soon rivaled the British in their interest. In 1854, an anonymous author had two articles published about the saltwater aquaria of the United Kingdom:
Die Gartenlaube (The Garden House) entitled
Der Ocean auf dem Tische (The Ocean on the Table). However, in 1856,
Der See im Glase (The Lake in a Glass) was published, discussing freshwater aquaria, which were much easier to maintain in landlocked areas.
[13] In 1862
William Alford Lloyd, then bankrupt because of the craze in England being over, moved to Grindel Dammthor, Hamburg, to supervise the installation of the circulating system and tanks at the
Hamburg Aquarium.[
citation needed] During the 1870s, some of the first
aquarist societies were appearing in Germany.
[14] The United States soon followed. Published in 1858, Henry D. Butler's
The Family Aquarium was one of the first books written in the United States solely about the aquarium.
[15] According to the July issue of
The North American Review of the same year, William Stimson may have owned some of the first functional aquaria, and had as many as seven or eight.
[16] The first aquarist society in the United States was founded in
New York City in 1893, followed by others.
[14] The
New York Aquarium Journal, first published in October 1876, is considered to be the world's first aquarium magazine.
[17]