About Us

Freshwater aquariums are kept by many people for a hobby.  You probably have had one or know someone who is keeping a fresh water aquarium.  Many restaurants, local businesses or friends have an aquarium for their main show piece.  Many people have aquariums and love to keep their fish in a happy home.

Many words in our language originated in Latin.  The word “aquarium” comes from “aqua” which means water and “rium” which means a place or building. Translated it is simply a water building.

Shopping for an aquarium is very interesting. There are literally thousands of tanks to choose from. You can find a goldfish bowl up to thousands of gallons in a tank. Then you start populating your habitat with fish, invertebrates, plants and many other accessories.

You can select a simple fish bowl many, children’s rooms have for their goldfish housed in one, all the way up to a balanced ecosystem containing many species of plants and fish with filtered and temperature controlled water.

The History of the Aquarium

Modern aquariums hark back to the 1850′s. However, the modern element still resembles the earliest forms of fishkeeping. Once man gave up nomadic ways such as the Sumarians, they farmed and kept animals. One animal was the fish. These fresh water fish were kept in ponds until they were ready to be served in a future meal.

As far back as 2,000 years ago the Chinese were breeding and raising goldfish and koi fish. During the Song Dynasty, goldfish were kept in ceramic bowls. The history of fishkeeping is long and very detailed. Ancient Egyptian artists adorned their paintings with a form of aquarium. The temples contained rectangular pools for keeping fish. What a unique and interesting concept, most people would not associate Egyptians and aquariums in a historical review.

Keeping fish as a hobby really picked up after the Civil War (Middle to late 1800′s). Prior to this you could see fish in aquariums hosted by museums. The production of electricity in the late 1800′s enabled lights and pumps to be adapted to aquariums. Fish keeping rapidly gained in popularity which attracted many inventors to produce unique and interesting things to place into the tanks as well as, finding ways to keep the fish healthy and filter the water.

This popular hobby generated lots of money for stores. The whole industry grew and produced hundreds of types of tanks, lights, filters and other accessories. Even the cultivation and breeding of fish for freshwater aquariums flourished. So you now have thousands of different options for selecting and setting up your own unique aquarium. Now, isn’t this fun.