Article Archives

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History of Faux Bois Aquariums

History of Faux Bois Aquariums

Faux bois aquariums are relics of a time when even utilitarian things such as a fish tank looked like small works of art. Their rustic appearance is very far from ...
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Barnum's Sticklebacks

Barnum’s Sticklebacks

When P.T. Barnum’s American Museum, at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street in Manhattan (New York City), opened America’s first public aquarium (“The Grand Aquaria”) in September 1857, it ...
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The Roller Canary

The Roller Canary

To begin with, the song was important because these birds were to be sold into the pet market, where people would keep possibly a single bird to provide some form ...
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William Alford Lloyd, the Aquarist, and His Cat, Mim

William Alford Lloyd, the Aquarist, and His Cat, Mim

William Alford Lloyd is one of the greats of 19th Century aquarists – in many ways possibly the greatest of them all. It feels a bit strange doing a piece ...
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Easiest "Pet" Ever

Easiest “Pet” Ever

The year 1975, in the United States, was definitely one to remember for multiple interesting reasons and historical highlights. Let me bring you back in time. Gerald R. Ford Jr ...
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The Hamster Market & CritterTrail

The Hamster Market & CritterTrail

As a young boy through my teenage years, my passion for turtles always found me stopping to visit and explore pet stores every chance I got. Most pet stores concentrated ...
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William Goebel’s Wonderful Water-Folk

William Goebel’s Wonderful Water-Folk

In my November 3, 2023, article for this website entitled “Who Made These Mermaids,” I discussed the fact that although aquarium catalogs around the turn of the last century swarmed ...
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The Heikomobile: No Compromise

The Heikomobile: No Compromise

Born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1944, Heiko Bleher is a living legend and a true icon of the aquarium industry. I have always thought of him as the ...
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William Alford Lloyd: the Unpublished Letters of a Great Aquarium Pioneer

William Alford Lloyd: the Unpublished Letters of a Great Aquarium Pioneer

Even though in today’s world you can get almost anything while sitting comfortably in front of your computer, in many cases I still prefer doing things in person. This happens, ...
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O'Dell Manufacturing History and Recollections

O’Dell Manufacturing History and Recollections

I owned a pet store in Bay City, Michigan in 1970 and had a very good customer named Clark O’Dell. He’d come in regularly and buy fish and as our ...
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Who Made these Mermaids?

Who Made these Mermaids?

Aquarium catalogs around the turn of the last century are swimming with schools of mermaids for ornamenting aquariums. Unfortunately, other than typically describing these undulating ondines as “imported,” the catalogs ...
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The William T. Innes Photo Tank

The William T. Innes Photo Tank

William T. Innes is a legend in the aquarium hobby. Innes was a publisher of one of the longest-running aquarium magazines, called “The Aquarium”, plus a printer, publisher, photographer, and ...
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Catching Pet Birds for a Living - 100 Years Ago

Catching Pet Birds for a Living – 100 Years Ago

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the UK, there was a relatively rapid migration of people from the countryside into the towns. There were several reasons for this, ...
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Our Story - FM Brown

Our Story – FM Brown

It’s seldom (maybe never) that you find a pet company that has been privately held and run for six generations! Here is the history of the F.M. Brown’s Company, which ...
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Collecting Marine Life for a 19th-Century Public Aquarium

Collecting Marine Life for a 19th-Century Public Aquarium

January 26, 1874. On the ground floor of the Zoological Station at Naples, a revolutionary research center on marine biology located in southern Italy, the Naples aquarium opened to the ...
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My Balanced Aquarium Experiment

My Balanced Aquarium Experiment

Is the idea of a balanced aquarium a myth? During the early days of the aquarium hobby it certainly was not regarded as such ...
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Look What I Found Tucked Away in a Cupboard

Look What I Found Tucked Away in a Cupboard

For those who are incredibly new to the pet industry, and for some who might not even been born when this was a thing, the image above is the Pets.com ...
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Meet the Pioneer

Meet the Pioneer

Pet Super Stores are found everywhere these days. That was not the case back in the 1950s, where one of the world's first and largest pet centres was to be ...
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Al Klee Memorial

Al Klee Memorial

To the majority of aquarium hobbyists today, unless they are interested in the hobby's history, the name Al Klee probably means nothing. To hobbyists active from the early 1950's until ...
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Bob Mailloux Memorial

Bob Mailloux Memorial

We are deeply saddened by the news of Bob Mailloux’s passing on August 26, 2023. Gary Bagnall reflected on their longtime friendship: ...
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Antique Portraits of Aquarium Life from the Zoological Station at Naples

Antique Portraits of Aquarium Life from the Zoological Station at Naples

The first photograph of a living fish (a pike) was taken in 1853, at the Fish House of Regent’s Park Zoological Gardens (London), by Don Juan Carlos María Isidro de ...
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Marvin Goldman Memorial

Marvin Goldman Memorial

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Marvin Goldman, a founding member and visionary leader in the Pet Product Industry. Throughout his illustrious career, Marvin played a pivotal ...
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At the Dawn of Aeration

At the Dawn of Aeration

What did aquarists use before electricity came into widespread use? How did they heat, filter, and aerate their aquariums? A Recent presentation by Emiliano Spada of Rome (Italy) answered these ...
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The History of San Francisco Bay Brand Inc., and Ocean Nutrition USA

The History of San Francisco Bay Brand Inc., and Ocean Nutrition USA

When I started, I was around five years old. In 1957, my father, who was a tool and die, maker, had been working at a shop repairing aquariums with my ...
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The Segrest Story (aka As the Fishes Swim)

The Segrest Story (aka As the Fishes Swim)

It all started on a hot summer day in 1940 in the tiny community of Red Lick, Mississippi when, Elwyn Segrest was born to a lay preacher, Elwyn Sr., and ...
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The First Fish of the New York Aquarium

The First Fish of the New York Aquarium

The municipally-owned New York Aquarium first opened its doors to the public in December of 1896. But, of course, before that, it was engaged in acquiring the fish that would ...
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New York's First Aquarium Mega Store (Maybe)

New York’s First Aquarium Mega Store (Maybe)

Those of us who have been in the aquarium hobby for awhile usually have fond memories of some pet shop from our youth that no longer exists. In New York ...
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Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing

The urge to whimsically adorn aquariums appears to have reached its peak in the early decades of the 1900s, with German manufacturers producing a wide and creative range of fish ...
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Historical Aquarium and Terrarium Books

Historical Aquarium and Terrarium Books

Who knows Heinrich Walther Schulte-Heuthaus? 1st chapter Most collectors should not associate the above name with aquarium literature. In contrast to Walther Schulte vom Brühl, a name well known to ...
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The Forgotten Aquarium of Rome - Part 2

The Forgotten Aquarium of Rome – Part 2

Emiliano finishes the story of the majestic forgotten aquarium of Rome this month. While the aquarium had an untimely end, the building still stands today and is a testament to ...
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Goldfish - A Written and Visual Overview from the 1700s and Early 1800s

Goldfish – A Written and Visual Overview from the 1700s and Early 1800s

Almost four decades ago, I purchased, at a book and picture/plate dealer in Maine, two hand-colored plates of catfishes, which were accompanied by a single printed sheet of corresponding text ...
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A Turtle Changed My Life

A Turtle Changed My Life

As a young child, I was always enamored with turtles ever since that first day I saw the stacks of little green turtles in an aquarium at the Woolworths dime ...
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A Rare Relic From the First Golden Age of the American Aquarium Hobby

A Rare Relic From the First Golden Age of the American Aquarium Hobby

Can you travel back to the past? While I wish there were something like the famous time machine of H.G. Wells’ novel, I’m afraid there is not…yet. But in the ...
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The King of Beasts is Dead - A Tribute to Norbert Zajac

The King of Beasts is Dead – A Tribute to Norbert Zajac

The entrepreneur and founder of the world’s largest pet shop Norbert Zajac died unexpectedly at the age of 67. He founded and managed his huge pet shop with 140,000 sqft ...
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The Forgotten Aquarium of Rome - Part 1

The Forgotten Aquarium of Rome – Part 1

Although it fully deserves to be included in the list of the early public aquariums, the protagonist of this article is practically unknown to most aquarium history buffs. I am ...
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Nostalgia Notes: Nassau Pet Shop

Nostalgia Notes: Nassau Pet Shop

The Nassau Pet Shop was so named because it was located on Nassau Street (number 129, to be precise), just a stone's throw from City Hall and only a few ...
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Dry Tank Set-Ups for Vintage Aquariums and Fishbowls

Dry Tank Set-Ups for Vintage Aquariums and Fishbowls

An aquarium set-up with tropical fish is a beautiful “living picture” that rivals anything used to decorate the modern household. Add to this an antique aquarium or fishbowl set-up with ...
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The Early History of Western Herpetoculture, Up to the Year 1900-Part 3

The Early History of Western Herpetoculture, Up to the Year 1900-Part 3

The third and final installment of Jon Coote’s article shares the history of tortoise keeping. Read to learn about the longest lived tortoises in captivity, and several prominent tortoises throughout ...
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HAPPY VALENTINE!

HAPPY VALENTINE!

In that it is February, a few Valentine cards came to mind, and I would like to use them herein to wish you and MOAPH a happy Valentine month. And ...
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Pioneering Aquarist: The Legacy of William Holbein

Pioneering Aquarist: The Legacy of William Holbein

In the early days of the aquarium hobby in America, New York City was the epicenter of its activity. The first two aquarium books published in America were both New ...
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An Overview of Aquarium and Aquatic Life Trade Cards Issued by the Tobacco, Coffee, and Food Companies of Yesteryear

An Overview of Aquarium and Aquatic Life Trade Cards Issued by the Tobacco, Coffee, and Food Companies of Yesteryear

Beginning in the 1880s, a multitude of businesses started to distribute chromolithographic advertising cards to promote their products and services. The tobacco, coffee, and food companies extensively used these eye-catching ...
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Little Things Mean A Lot: Notes on the William T. Innes Bookmark

Little Things Mean A Lot: Notes on the William T. Innes Bookmark

When my long time friend Wayne Leibel passed away he, in his will, bequeathed to me his collection of aquarium books. Notable among these was a complete set of the ...
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The Early History of Western Herpetoculture, Up to the Year 1900-Part 2

The Early History of Western Herpetoculture, Up to the Year 1900-Part 2

So began the 735-year history of the famous Royal Menagerie, which lasted until 1835. In the 15th century, both the 13th Earl of Oxford and Sir Robert Brakenbury served as ...
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Pioneer of Aquaristics and Ichthyology Arthur Rachow (June 13, 1884-February 2, 1960)

Pioneer of Aquaristics and Ichthyology Arthur Rachow (June 13, 1884-February 2, 1960)

The lives of prominent aquarists from the first half of the last century are similar. They are all invariably enthusiasts who, even under the most adverse circumstances, have been caring ...
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The Early History of Western Herpetoculture, Up to the Year 1900-Part 1

The Early History of Western Herpetoculture, Up to the Year 1900-Part 1

Jon Coote is a professional herpetologist and comparative animal nutritionist, trained at the University of Nottingham in the UK. He currently resides and works primarily in the UK as a ...
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Prof. Gunther Hans Wenzel Sterba (May 20, 1922, to June 16, 2021)

Prof. Gunther Hans Wenzel Sterba (May 20, 1922, to June 16, 2021)

Those of us that started keeping tropical fish as teenagers always had one favorite book that we “cut our teeth on” so to speak. If you were a teen in ...
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Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste: James Shirley Hibberd’s Masterpiece

Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste: James Shirley Hibberd’s Masterpiece

My parents always told me: “Emiliano don’t judge a book by its cover, it’s a bad habit you shouldn’t have.” This was helpful advice which I still follow in everyday ...
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Living History from The Departed - Mervin F. Roberts

Living History from The Departed – Mervin F. Roberts

I had the initial pleasure of contacting Mervin Roberts (1922 – 2020) following a suggestion from Jim Atz, an old “fish friend” of his. This contact, via a long telephone ...
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Book Review

Book Review

A lot is known about Jeanne Villepreux-Power. But there is also a lot of uncertainty in some areas of her life. Consequently, the author wisely notes that “…you’ll come across ...
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Coup’s Aquarium Is Coming To Town!! Redux

Coup’s Aquarium Is Coming To Town!! Redux

In the beginning stages of my interest in 19th century public aquaria I found the following quote from James G. Bertram’s book “The Harvest Of The Sea” (London, Third Edition, ...
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