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:
- Donate. Become a monthly donor or give as you can.
- Donate old pet products you may have such as old aquariums, pet magazines, pet catalogs, old invoices, etc.
- Write an article on your company, or do a Zoom interview!
- Write an article on a historical pet subject that you are an expert on.
- 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
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!
june ARTICLES
Animal Trade, Aquarium Technology, and the Time After the End of the GDR
Two Rare Steampunk Devices
Vintage Aquariums – Antique tanks and prehistoric fishes: A love affair
Candy, and Animals, and Trade Cards…Oh My! – A German Chocolate Company and the Proliferation of Animal Trade Cards
Chapter 21 – A Pair of White Rhinoceros – Wilde Tiere Frei Haus (Wild Animals/Free Delivery)
Mouse and Rat Notes: The Fancier’s Library
1975 Aquarium Industry Retail Update
Kordon-Tetra Sales U.S.A Split
Dr. and Mrs. F.R. Sanborn’s Stonywall Kennels Poodles 1938 Ad
Film Stars & Their Pets
Collage of 1938 Animal Dealer Ads
Thomas Edison Aquarium Heater
Prevue-Hendryx 2000 Ad
Penn-Plax 1965 Ad
1937 English Woman with Tortoises
1955 English Brass Teardrop Birdcage
Theater Alt-Berlin Trade Card from 1896
Fish Clock
1988 Sacramento Aquarium Society Plaques
Collectors of Aquarium Literature – Number 47 February 1993
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Donate to the Museum
Help The Museum of Aquarium & Pet History expand its collection and physical footprint through a direct donation. Donations can be one-time or scheduled monthly, quarterly, or annually. We thank you for your support.