kb/data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarium-1.md

title	chunk	source	category	tags	date_saved	instance
Aquarium	2/8	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarium	reference	science, encyclopedia	2026-05-05T09:00:40.028331+00:00	kb-cron

Influenced by Gosse, the German Emil Adolf Rossmässler promoted the value of the aquarium movement in the educational field. Rossmässler wrote of its use in an 1855 article in Die Gartenlaube (The Gazebo) and in his 1857 book Das Susswasser-Aquarium (The Freshwater Aquarium), the freshwater aquarium being much easier to maintain in landlocked areas. In 1862 William Alford Lloyd, then bankrupt because of the craze in England being over, moved to Grindel Dammthor, Hamburg, to supervise the installation of the circulating system and tanks at the Hamburg Aquarium. During the 1870s, some of the first aquarist societies were appearing in Germany. The United States soon followed. Published in 1858, Henry D. Butler's The Family Aquarium was one of the first books written in the United States solely about the aquarium. According to the July issue of The North American Review of the same year, William Stimson may have owned some of the first functional aquaria, and had as many as seven or eight. Henry Bishop, a bird and fish dealer in Baltimore ("Goldfish King"), is credited with revolutionizing the aquarium business in the US, selling a wide range of tanks and supplies beginning in the 1870s-1880s. 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.

In the Victorian era in the United Kingdom, a common design for the home aquarium was a glass front with the other sides made of wood (made watertight with a pitch coating). The bottom would be made of slate and heated from below. More advanced systems soon began to be introduced, along with tanks of glass in metal frames. During the latter half of the 19th century, a variety of aquarium designs were explored, such as hanging the aquarium on a wall, mounting it as part of a window, or even combining it with a birdcage.

=== Twentieth century ===

Around 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. Initially, amateur aquarists kept native fish (with the exception of goldfish); the availability of exotic species from overseas further increased the popularity of the aquarium. Jugs made from a variety of materials were used to import fish from overseas, with a bicycle foot pump for aeration. Plastic shipping bags were introduced in the 1950s, making it easier to ship fish. The eventual availability of air freight allowed fish to be successfully imported from distant regions. Popular publications started by Herbert R. Axelrod influenced many more hobbyists to start keeping fish. In the 1960s, metal frames made marine aquaria almost impossible due to corrosion, but the development of tar and silicone sealant allowed the first all-glass aquaria made by Martin Horowitz in Los Angeles, CA. The frames remained, however, though purely for aesthetic reasons. Japan played an increasingly important role in shaping aquarium design in the latter part of the twentieth century, with the aquascaping designs of Takashi Amano influencing fishkeepers to treat home aquariums as aesthetically pleasing compositions, rather than simply as a way of displaying fish specimens. In the United States, as of 1996, aquarium keeping is the second-most popular hobby after stamp collecting. In 1999, an estimated 9.6 million US households owned an aquarium. Figures from the 2005/2006 APPMA National Pet Owners Survey report that Americans own approximately 139 million freshwater fish and 9.6 million saltwater fish. Estimates of the numbers of fish kept in aquaria in Germany suggest at least 36 million. The hobby has the strongest following in Europe, Asia, and North America. In the United States, 40% of aquarists maintain two or more tanks. Over time, there has been an increasing appreciation of the usefulness of access to an aquarium to provide potential stress reduction and improvement of mood in people observing aquatic life. According to the research of having an aquarium is many health benefits like reduce stress, blood pressure and heart rate improvement, better quality sleep, reduce anxiety and pain, therapy of excited children, Alzheimer's therapy and improve productivity.

== Design ==

=== Materials ===