400 Gal Acrylic Aquarium Salt Water Reef Fish Tank  US $3,400.00
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Oceanic Aquarium 144 G Half Circle Fish Tank Only US $525.00
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150 Gallon Glass Aquarium Salt Water Fish Tank Etc US $500.00
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150 Gallon Fish Tank Aquarium Lighting Corals Reef US $500.00
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72 Gallon Bow Front Aquarium Fish Tank All Extras US $450.00
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72 Gallon Bow Shaped Fish Tank Aquarium With Stand US $1,000.00
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| The Fish Aquarium |
Aquariums
The pleasure of viewing and contemplating aquatic species has its roots in antiquity. The ancient Egyptians, Romans, and other peoples kept fish in artificial pools. The Chinese selectively bred goldfish from carp. Yet looking down on fish is very different from seeing them eye-to-eye. It was not until the technology of glassmaking advanced to the point where glass plate and large transparent vessels became relatively common products of industrial commerce that fishkeeping became both a popular hobby and, for some, a profession.
The Foundations of Modern Aquariums
With industrialization, increasing portions of the population, especially in larger cities, possessed enough leisure time to support the rise of the great natural history museums, zoos, and circuses of the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Those three kinds of institutions had very different missions, and the tension between their different ways of presenting animals remains evident in aquariums today. Natural history museums conduct scientific research, because classification of collections was their initial concern. Only secondarily were exhibits developed to educate the public. Circuses strive to entertain and astonish audiences the more that animals could be trained to mimic human behaviors, the better. In their early years, zoos' focus on exhibiting captive animals by category left only rudimentary thought for animals' needs and the natural habitats from which they had been taken.
This postcard from 1909 depicts the aquarium in Venice, California. Originally built in that year for $20,000, the aquarium later became the marine biological station for the University of Southern California.
As for the first aquatic gardens or aquariums, a few were constructed in basements of natural history museums, whereas some were more or less the extension of circuses. For instance, in New York and Boston, P. T. Barnum operated aquarium displays that included trained seals and beluga whales as well as fish in tanks. Other displays occupied a portion of municipal zoos, or were separately administered by the same city agencies. During both the Great Depression and World War II, many urban areas, along with their zoos and aquariums, went into decline.
Renewal of Public Interest in Aquariums
The mid-twentieth century saw the rise of oceanographic parks emphasizing dolphins and sea lions trained through the behaviorist techniques then dominating psychology. Jacques Cousteaus television series gave the public an entirely new view of underwater life. In response to the publics heightened awareness and new expectations, aquarium managers began to respond with displays that, with increasing sophistication, replicated coral reefs and the habitats of fish and other aquatic animals.
Tags: fish and aquariums, 55 gallon fish aquariums, freshwater fish aquarium, tropical fish aquarium
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