Emiliano Spada

In the aquarium hobby, there is a fine balance between form and function. In this month’s article, Emiliano highlights the SACEM Junior aquarium, a nano tank that any hobbyist collector ...

Like other collectors in my field, I am particularly drawn to aquariums and fishbowls with unusual designs, especially those crafted from alternative materials that make them appear more like sculptures ...

If you ask an American collector of antique aquariums to show you his want list, you will notice that almost certainly one of the top spots will be reserved for ...

The vestibule (“foyer”) of the Aquarium de Paris was designed to resemble the caves and cliffs found along the Breton coastline in northwestern France, where mica-rich shale rocks are abundant ...

Visiting the 1900 Paris Exposition must have been a truly breathtaking experience, both for visitors and exhibitors alike. Speaking of the latter, France invited 56 countries, and 40 of them ...

Leafing through my German-language aquarium and terrarium catalogs printed between the late 1800s and the early decades of the 1900s, I notice some unique enclosures which are almost completely absent ...

Commonly known as “textile hemp”, Cannabis sativa is a remarkably versatile plant, capable of thriving even in challenging soils. Cultivated since ancient times for a wide range of uses, it ...

One of the many things I love about antique aquariums and fishbowls is that, even today, you can purchase them at relatively affordable prices. This is because they’ve always been ...

With the following sixteen-page letter, our series of articles on Lloyd comes to an end. This final document holds particular importance as it provides a clear summary of the best ...

The Zoological Station at Naples and its Aquarium are now fully functional. Dohrn, probably because he is literally overwhelmed with commitments, neglects his friend Lloyd, who, as we will see, ...

The 1870s were a golden decade for the risky business of public aquariums in Great Britain, and the variety of the collection had always been a crucial point for the ...

For more than a century, The Zoological Station at Naples (Italy) has preserved the world’s largest collection of letters and postcards handwritten by the greatest professional aquarist of the Victorian ...

My career as a fishkeeper started when I was just a baby. It happened thanks to a plastic “aquarium”. Actually, it was an educational toy that my father secured to ...

The entrepreneur, professional photographer and aquascaping master Takashi Amano has been, without a shadow of a doubt, the Steve Jobs of the aquarium industry ...

Our research on the forgotten aquariums of Venice led us to investigate the history of two other public aquariums, both located in a rather strategic location: Lido. Part of the ...

Venice is one of the most charming Italian cities, a magical place suspended over the water, the most romantic tourist destination in the Old Continent. It’s such an enchanting place ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

What distinguishes a methodical, serious collector from impulse buyers and simple hoarders? I’m quite sure that this question can be answered with a single word, knowledge. The key to success ...

Among the most beautiful and sought aquariums from the period between the early 1880s and the beginning of the First World War, there were without a doubt the German-made parlor ...

The very first heyday of technology in the aquarium hobby took place during the 1930s. Electrical service had finally arrived for the greater part of private homes and suppliers began ...