Back in 1830, the word “Aquarium” (Latin) referred to a drinking place for cattle, like a watering trough. The Victorian mania for the use of indoor aquariums began with the book “The Aquarium,” published in 1854 by English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse[1].
Vivariums are places, such as a laboratory, where live animals or plants are kept under conditions simulating their natural environment, for research, as we have today were not the first aquariums. Early Egyptian aquariums were artificial ponds where fish that symbolizes their gods were kept.
From 265-420 CE, the Jin Dynasty was known for raising ornamental fish that were initially for food purposes that later on became an ornament and pride for Chinese Royal officials. The Romans developed marble tanks as storage for live fish to be eaten, but later on, in the First Century C.E., they realized glass was durable and gave the ability to choose what fish to eat next.
In 1832, A French Marine Biologist –Jeanne Villepreux-Power, created ‘Aquaria’ to observe and experiment with the aquatic organisms. Later, Robert Warrington, an English Chemist, established a stable Aquaria, with snails, a goldfish, and eelgrass in a thirteen-gallon container. He would explain that the plants were necessary to provide oxygen for the animals in the aquarium. The first public aquarium was in the London Zoo, created by the aforementioned Philip Henry Gosse.
In 1858, Edward Edwards[2], a Welsh Marine Zoologist, come up with the idea of the “ Dark-Water chamber slope-back tank,” an Aquarium with a glass front and circulating water reservoir beneath –a principle that is still adopted up to this day. The first aquarist society in the United States was founded in New York City in 1893, followed by others. The New York Aquarium Journal, first published in October 1876, is considered to be the world’s first aquarium magazine.
Circa 1908, the first mechanical aquarium air pump was invented, powered by running
water, instead of electricity. The introduction of the air pump into the hobby is considered by several historians of the hobby to be a pivotal moment in its development.
Aquaria became more widely popular as houses had an electricity supply after World War I. Electricity allowed artificial lighting as well as aeration, filtration, and heating of the water.
Footnotes
- Philip Henry Gosse (April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, an early improver of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of marine biology. Gosse created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and coined the term “aquarium” when he published the first manual.
- Born 23 November 1803 at Corwen, he was for some years a draper at Bangor, but in 1840 set up a successful iron-foundry at Menai Bridge. In 1864 he began studying fish. His research led him to effect great improvements in the construction of aquaria, and his devices were adopted by the leading museums in Britain and abroad. He died on August 13, 1879.
Sources
Factourism
WayBackMachine
MentalItch
