It is 2,500 BC. It’s lunch time and a Sumerian walks up to a large aquarium. No, that aquarium is not for him to enjoy watching the fish play about like you do. It is his food!

Sumerians were people who lived in Mesopotamia (today’s Southern Iraq) 4,000 years ago and they are said to be the earliest keepers of fish, first in ponds and later in tanks. But they stored fish to eat them, unlike us. We just love to watch them for hours on end, don’t we?

Have you ever noticed how the wonderfully-coloured goldfish go round and round in their bowls? Or how those swordtails wriggle straight up to the surface of the tank, shimmering and shivering and then zoom down to the very bottom? And have you observed how the blue and gold barbs keep changing their colour?

Many ancient peoples were fascinated, like us, with the beauty and the agility of fish and considered them sacred. In fact, ancient Egyptians bred some types of fish just for their amazing looks. If you visit a museum which displays old Egyptian tombs, look out for drawings of fish on them.

It was Romans who kept freshwater fish to sell as food publicly. These public tanks later came to be known as aquariums. These were initially made of marble and as you can imagine, that hardly helped one to see the fish! The Romans later began using glass walls for their marble tanks.

Much later in 1369, Chinese emperor Hongwu began ordering that aquariums be made out of the delicately-beautiful Chinese porcelain. He loved keeping goldfish in these porcelain bowls. Though goldfish were first found in Japan, they were bred more in China because of their colour and breathtaking beauty.

Tender, Loving, Care
By the late 1600s, goldfish were brought to England and over the next two centuries, aquariums became popular all over and keeping fish as pets became as common as cats and dogs!

In 1853, the world’s first public aquarium was opened in Regent’s Park in London. Over the next years, several other public aquariums were opened in France, Germany and other European countries. There was great excitement and interest but... they couldn’t survive because the fish didn’t last! Slowly, aquarists and fish enthusiasts began to learn more about water temperature, how to maintain the tank, how to provide the fish with the right kind of air and food, thus paving the way for better tanks.

If any of you have an aquarium or a goldfish bowl at home, you would have realised how your little pets are so delicate and so much in need of your love and attention. If you want them to be healthy, you should know how to maintain an aquarium. (See blue box).

And if you do, they will continue to enchant you with their rainbow colours, their charming movements and their little forays to the top of tank. Just the way they used to fascinate the Romans and the Egyptians, years and years ago.

World’s largest aquariums
The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, USA, is said to be the ‘world’s largest aquarium’ with more than 30,000,000 litres of marine and fresh water. It has, hold your breath, over 100,000 animals of 500 different species. The aquarium’s highlights are its whale sharks and beluga whales.

The Aquadom in Berlin, placed at the lobby of the Radisson SAS hotel is 25 metres high and is the largest cylindrical aquarium. It contains about 900,000 litres of seawater and some 2,600 fish. Guests can travel through the aquarium in a glass-enclosed elevator to reach the restaurant! Two professional divers take care of the feeding and maintenance of the fish!

Siam Ocean World that occupies two levels of Siam Paragon, Bangkok’s shopping destination, is said to be the largest aquarium in Southeast Asia. It is 10,000 square metres and can hold more than four million litres of water. It showcases some of the most exotic species of fish including Stingrays, Blue-ringed Octopus, Ragged-tooth sharks, Sea Dragons and Giant spider crabs.

Tips to maintain an aquarium
Check the tank daily and observe each fish to ensure that they are not sick or dead.

Feed your fish every other day and be sure to vary their diet.

Every week, remove some of the tank water and replace it with fresh dechlorinated water.

The inside of the tank must be brushed once in a month or so.

Scrape off the algae that collects at the bottom of the tank once in a week.