Old 1800s fish keeping books

gmoney243 · Oct 17, 2012

here some pdf archives of old 1800s books about keeping aquariums.

Internet Archive Search: subject:"Aquariums"

Poseidon · Oct 17, 2012

I love the opening line of one of those books "...I am probably the most proper person to write it."

It's hard to believe that marine aquariums were actually kept that early.

ChoxRox · Oct 17, 2012

This is great! I didn't really want to study anyway =p

Mason Dixon · Oct 17, 2012

Looks like they sealed their tanks with 'white lead putty', how safe is that stuff?

SeahorseKeeper · Oct 17, 2012

I think it's interesting to see how the hobby has evolved. Things that we consider taboo were once widely acceptable.

gmoney243 · Oct 17, 2012

yup i read the first marine book on the list and boy was that fun. my fav part is where he talks about collecting all your stuff from the beach. sand CUC fish algae everything lol. also how GHA and bryopsis are encouraged to grow to "oxygenate" the water and keep it clean. most amazing to me tho was that he had some corals and such all growing with no powerheads or heaters just plain old oxygen from the plants to keep everything alive and fish arent fed at all you collect fish that eat algae and other microfoods that will naturally occur. almost total self sustaining. no water changes. if your water was cloudy you could just "ozone" your water using buckets and let it settle and over a few days i think it was. the water cleaned itself and the ozone got rid of the detritus and such then you just pour the water back in. no test kits just hey if your water is crystal clear and doesnt smell its good. if not you need to clean it with the method described above lol.

Ike · Oct 18, 2012

As recently as the 80's it was considered an acomoplishment to have algae growing in your aquarium and many people thought it meant a tank was healthy. At the same time there were people busting out the bleach for their coral skeleton decorations at the first sign of the stuff. As the 80's drew to a close the thinking on that changed dramatically and the modern coral reef aquarium was being realized.

gmoney243 said:
yup i read the first marine book on the list and boy was that fun. my fav part is where he talks about collecting all your stuff from the beach. sand CUC fish algae everything lol. also how GHA and bryopsis are encouraged to grow to "oxygenate" the water and keep it clean. most amazing to me tho was that he had some corals and such all growing with no powerheads or heaters just plain old oxygen from the plants to keep everything alive and fish arent fed at all you collect fish that eat algae and other microfoods that will naturally occur. almost total self sustaining. no water changes. if your water was cloudy you could just "ozone" your water using buckets and let it settle and over a few days i think it was. the water cleaned itself and the ozone got rid of the detritus and such then you just pour the water back in. no test kits just hey if your water is crystal clear and doesnt smell its good. if not you need to clean it with the method described above lol.