Welcome to the Museum of Aquarium and Pet History

Welcome to The Museum of Aquarium & Pet History: the world’s most comprehensive collection of artifacts relating to aquarium and pet keeping. This museum includes a huge depository of over 3,000 items that were historically used to keep pets. These items would be antique aquariums, fish bowls and stands, bird cages, squirrel cages, dog, cat, bird, and fish foods and medications, pet advertising signs including neon and automation, pet product shipping wood crates, metal fish shipping cans, etc., etc. The museum also has a library with over 1,000 aquarium and pet books, 5,000 aquarium and pet magazines, and hundreds of original letters from pet companies, pet publishers, aquarium & pet hobbyists, pet stores, etc.

It took four decades to build this collection and it is currently being housed in six buildings. Building number 1 (display building) houses over 200 antique aquariums and fish bowls plus over 200 bird cages along with dog & cat food items, plus antique pet advertising signs and more. Currently we are online only and have monthly articles published on pet history by the best pet historians worldwide. We also have a YouTube channel with a new major release monthly plus new 5-minute weekly videos. We hope to have a building open to the public with rotating exhibits of our collection by 2027. To stay up to date, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and newsletter.

One of the features of our museum website is to showcase the history of pet companies and aquarium hobbyists. We welcome outside contributions on company history from anyone who may have worked at a company no longer in business, or one still in business that has been in business for 25 years or more. We also would like any historical information on tropical fish farms or aquariums, birds, dogs, cats, etc., and hobbyists that have contributed significantly to pet & aquarium keeping.

How you can help the Museum of Aquarium and Pet History:

  1. Donate. Become a monthly donor or give as you can.
  2. Donate old pet products you may have such as old aquariums, pet magazines, pet catalogs, old invoices, etc.
  3. Write an article on your company, or do a Zoom interview!
  4. Write an article on a historical pet subject that you are an expert on.
  5. Send us samples of products from your company along with your company’s history to keep on file at the museum.

Thank you for stopping by and stay tuned for lots more aquarium & pet history in the months ahead!

june 2026 Video of the month

This month we sat down with Bob Krause, the renowned inventor of the CritterTrail, founder of “The World’s Largest Pet Center,” Noah’s Ark, and a hard-core turtle nerd. He shares fascinating stories from his time in the pet industry, including a time when Muhammad Ali came in to buy a cockatoo!

When will the physical museum open?

Lots of people ask us if we have a physical museum they can come and visit. The short answer is “not yet”. We hope to have the physical of the Museum of Aquarium & Pet History (MOAPH) open by the end of 2027. In the meantime, the attached video is our trial run small MOAPH museum we spent 2 years putting together during the COVID times. If you have not seen this video, please have a look and know that the new museum will be 3 times as large, with a coffee shop and gift store.

We greatly appreciate all our donors, whether it is monetary or vintage pet products you have lying around that you would like to see go to the MOAPH museum. Thank You!

MOAPH 5 Minute Video series

The Museum of Aquarium and Pet History just released a new 5-Minute Video! Tune in every Wednesday for a short video featuring a unique artifact from the museum, OR an “unboxing video” for a new treasure just arriving at the museum.

june ARTICLES

Animal Trade, Aquarium Technology, and the Time After the End of the GDR

Animal Trade, Aquarium Technology, and the Time After the End of the GDR

In his final article about aquarium keeping in Gotha, Hajo shares inventive ways fish keeping stayed alive during socialist regimes ...
Two Rare Steampunk Devices

Two Rare Steampunk Devices

Recently, Emiliano Spada got his hands on two rare devices – a late 1800s-early 1900s water pump, and a mid-1920s air pump. See photos of these beautiful artifacts and read ...
Vintage Aquariums - Antique tanks and prehistoric fishes: A love affair

Vintage Aquariums – Antique tanks and prehistoric fishes: A love affair

In celebration of Gary’s June birthday month (turning 69), we have decided to re-release his article “Vintage Aquariums, Antique Tanks, and Prehistoric Fishes: A Love Affair.” Originally published in the ...
Candy, and Animals, and Trade Cards...Oh My! - A German Chocolate Company and the Proliferation of Animal Trade Cards

Candy, and Animals, and Trade Cards…Oh My! – A German Chocolate Company and the Proliferation of Animal Trade Cards

Few things in this world can collectively bring a smile to most anyone’s face, but chocolate and animals are likely at the top of that list. That combination is precisely ...
Chapter 21 - A Pair of White Rhinoceros - Wilde Tiere Frei Haus (Wild Animals/Free Delivery)

Chapter 21 – A Pair of White Rhinoceros – Wilde Tiere Frei Haus (Wild Animals/Free Delivery)

In this chapter of Wild Animals, Free Delivery, Hermann shares several incredible stories, including catching a herd of rhinos when it was 120°F outside, a request from a burlesque dancer ...
Mouse and Rat Notes: The Fancier's Library

Mouse and Rat Notes: The Fancier’s Library

In the 1930s, show organizers played a game of cat and mouse to bring in more attendees by literally inviting both cat enthusiasts and mouse enthusiasts to display their prized ...
1975 Aquarium Industry Retail Update

1975 Aquarium Industry Retail Update

Two pages from the February 1975 edition of Aquarium Industry showing what was going on in the aquarium field 50+ years ago! ...
Kordon-Tetra Sales U.S.A Split

Kordon-Tetra Sales U.S.A Split

Maurice (Murray) Rakowitz was never given credit for many of his amazing aquarium industry accomplishments. This article clarifies many historic points. From the March 1975 edition of Aquarium Industry ...
Dr. and Mrs. F.R. Sanborn's Stonywall Kennels Poodles 1938 Ad

Dr. and Mrs. F.R. Sanborn’s Stonywall Kennels Poodles 1938 Ad

Full page ad from the December 1938 edition of All-Pets Magazine for Stonywall Kennels, champion breeder of standard sized black poodles ...
Film Stars & Their Pets

Film Stars & Their Pets

Article from the Spring 1933 edition of Spillers Dog Journal that shares lovely stories of celebrities and their pets. One star, Gloria Swanson, even found a lost piece of priceless ...
Collage of 1938 Animal Dealer Ads

Collage of 1938 Animal Dealer Ads

A collage of interesting advertisements for animal dealers from the October 1938 edition of All-Pets Magazine. Newton Capron Inc., Ross Allen, and Louis Ruhe. Interesting to see an ad for ...
Thomas Edison Aquarium Heater

Thomas Edison Aquarium Heater

The Museum of Aquarium and Pet History is on the hunt for a Thomas A. Edison aquarium heater. Around here, it would be considered a ‘Holy Grail’ find! If you, ...
Prevue-Hendryx 2000 Ad

Prevue-Hendryx 2000 Ad

A very classy ad for Prevue-Hendryx birdcages. From the March 2000 edition of Bird Talk Magazine ...
Penn-Plax 1965 Ad

Penn-Plax 1965 Ad

This ad shows Penn-Plax's first series of "Jewel Box Ornaments", made via the vac-u-form method and not the later injection-mold method. Originally from the July 1965 edition of Pet Industry ...
1937 English Woman with Tortoises

1937 English Woman with Tortoises

1937 image of a woman holding 3 Greek or Hermann's tortoises at a tortoise farm in Middlesex, England. This farm raised/held as many as 3,000 tortoises at one time ...
1955 English Brass Teardrop Birdcage

1955 English Brass Teardrop Birdcage

1955 English brass birdcage in the teardrop shape. Possibly made by Genykage of England ...
Theater Alt-Berlin Trade Card from 1896

Theater Alt-Berlin Trade Card from 1896

The first addition to our new Trade Cards section! This 1896 Theater Alt-Berlin trade card depicts a scene from a medieval-inspired play that emphasized the conversion to Christianity. In 1157, ...
Fish Clock

Fish Clock

There was no end to "odd" (and way too small) aquarium/fishbowls in the 1970s. This unusual "fish clock" held about 1-gallon of water and allowed your betta fish to always ...
1988 Sacramento Aquarium Society Plaques

1988 Sacramento Aquarium Society Plaques

These 3 plaques were awarded to Jim Forshey in 1987-1988. Jim and Agnes Forshey are honorary lifetime members of the Sacramento Aquarium Society. The 1st-place egglayer award was given to ...
Collectors of Aquarium Literature - Number 47 February 1993

Collectors of Aquarium Literature – Number 47 February 1993

In this Issue: 1. "The Amateur Aquarist" by Mark Samuel - At Least Three Distinct Editions by Lee Finley 2. An Interesting "Reminder" by Jare A. Sausaman 3. History of ...

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