I rescued this Jewel Model 90 from a pile of junk in a garage. Its original glass was all intact as was its bronze finish. It's marked on the bottom as a Model 90 (4 gallons) late 1920's but the company never made one with glass dividers like this one as far as I know. The glass is of the same vintage (bulb edge) so is old like the tank so may have been done by one of the factory workers for himself or may have been a custom order done for a customer. It looks like the kind of tank that is used to house bettas which is why I refer to it as a "Betta" tank. This tank would also have been manufactured right around the same time that these fish were first being introduced on the west coast, being imported from Asia, so it makes sense to me that this could have been done back then. The dividers were held in place with black tar that had petrified and I removed carefully so as not to damage the glass. I had a piece of glass cut for the bottom since silicone won't stick to slate. I then used black silicone to reseal the inside of the tank and reseat the glass dividers. It looks pretty messy but once there's substrate in place you won't be able to see it. Since there's dividers I needed a spray bar for the return from the filter and I wanted to use stainless steel to contrast with the original bronze paint over cast iron. I had a heck of a time finding a stainless steel spray bar. The only ones I could find were one made by DICI from China and another made by an Indonesian company named Thara-products. I could only find the DICI for sale from Aquascape in France. I love the mirror finish that DICI puts on their stainless steel. Attached are the photos I took of it in the garage and the ones I just took tonight with the DICI intake and output stainless steel plumbing in place.
Yes, they only made these for a short time before the Great Depression put them out of business, at least this part of the Jewel company. These were called the "Modernistic" models 90 and 91 by the company, they are very art deco and are pretty rare. I have been told that only 300 of these were made in the late 1920's. As far as I know this is the only one with glass dividers. Check out my other posts, I have restored a couple others by this company in the past and I currently have a model 91 bronzed one.
Congrats on the great pickup!!! Very interesting divided tank and nice job on the cleanup. Good call on the SS piping, it does complement the tank design. Thanks for sharing!!
While I understand you wanting to keep the integrity of the original design of it, I'd advise against keeping 4 bettas in 1g compartments side by side like that. They will stress from constantly seeing another betta on 1 or both sides of them. Also your intake will only siphon from one compartment while the water sprays into all of them. You'd nee to drill the glass to let water go through to prevent overflow. Bettas have labyrinth lung and breath at the surface so putting a lid on that keeps them below the surface and let water flow from the top of one compartment to the next (like a mild water fall) is not an option. Keeping more than 1 betta in there with no lids will guarantee jumping and fighting/death. Also a lid must have no gaps at all! I had a long finned (delta tail) betta leap 2" above the water line and get through a thin 1/2" gap in a divider against the lid. After that I keep all my bettas in their own separate tanks, no chance to get at eachother.
There's actually a small gap on each side of each divider to allow water to flow through the tank. I currently have a betta in a tank without a top and he hasn't jumped out in the last couple of years and I've had bettas in other tanks without tops and I've never had one jump, maybe I've just been lucky. I've never had a divided tank before, I was thinking of using something to place between them so they didn't go nuts seeing other males constantly but then I've seen them in aquarium stores surrounded by other males too and they seem to become accustomed to it over time possibly?
Congrats on the great pickup!!! Very interesting divided tank and nice job on the cleanup. Good call on the SS piping, it does complement the tank design. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks, I'm always looking for antiques, especially aquariums and thanks for the compliment on the stainless steel, I agree that I think it looks good with the bronze.
What size is the gap? You'd be surprised what small holes a betta can make it through.
At the aquarium stores they are in cups with lids. Way back when petsmart started selling them they did not have lids and there were a LOOOOOT of dead dried out bettas on the counters or gored to death 2-in-a-cup (dead) incidents. They may not jump when they are alone but 2 males that see eachother.. They are Siamese fighting fish after all and even if they're mostly bed and sold as pets now the aggression is still there from the many generations of breeding before hand.
I'd advise blacking out the glass (or inserting krylon fusion sprayed acrylic sheets pressed to the glass and held in place by the substrate-this method is great for removing the issue of glass surfing btw)) so they cannot see eachother. If they do they will jump compartments.
Btw I've also kept a few bettas in lidless ripariums, but they saw nothing remotely resembling a betta in the same room as them. Bettas I have in the same room (on the same desk or across the room from eachother) all have lids to ensure no deaths or fights.
Well it looks like I'm going to have to figure out some method of making something so that they can't see each other. Maybe some thin sheet of some kind of plastic that is translucent.
No problems, I appreciate the advice, that's why I like this forum because it's a two way street, I learn from others with more experience than me and hopefully I can show others some things they may not know or have seen before.
This is very cool find. One thing we have lost in modernity is the cool artistic manufacturing of the past. The just dont make things like they used to. Again great find!
Thanks, no they don't make them like they used to, these tanks were built out of thick, heavy, cast iron screwed to a 1/2" thick slab of slate, with thick bulb edge glass. They didn't have silicone like we do now so they had to use tar but other than that these tanks have pretty much survived the last 86 years or so intact, other than glass breaking or cracking sometimes. For a little 4 gallon tank it weighs a hefty 26 pounds. My favorite part of these particular Jewel models are the art deco design of the frames.
Gorgeous tank! It's so beautiful I'm not sure you could aquascape it effectively as no one would see past the magnificent art deco details. That said, aquascape it anyway. The world needs as much beauty as can fit!
I didn't know this but I wonder if it's meant to be in constant contact with water, i.e. constantly submerged and if it's fish safe. I did read that it was not to be used on any surfaces that came into direct contact with food.
I remember that scene now and I remember how neat that tank looked. You're right, it was a great looking tank, not the same as mine but very similar, so there must have been some early "Betta" tanks out there but apparently very rare today. Thanks
Sorry it's been so long and I really appreciate the kind words of those who have followed this but a lot has happened since I started this and it has sat in the same place in my study covered with a dust cloth until the day before yesterday when I needed some place to put my Orchid Endler colony and excess plants from my other Jewel tank while I tear it down and re-do it. I will be selling this pure N-class colony here on the forum plus some extra Fissidens that I removed from another tank.
Anyway, attached are photos I just took of the fish and plants in their temporary home along with a light I made using some X-ray shades from the 1920's which I detailed in another post.
I'm glad the plumbing works, I wasn't too sure with just small gaps around the glass dividers. I have a temporary piece of glass across the top to keep the Endlers from jumping out as they are known for this. I have the spray bar pointed straight down to accommodate the glass top as well.
Bump:
Thanks, I doubt if I'll ever see another. I believe it is a one-of-a-kind, either a custom order from Jewel or one put together by someone back in the day but I'll keep you in mind if I ever decide to part with it, I have been know to do this from time to time.
Reminds me of the tank I had as an undergrad research assistant - everything was still intact, including the sealant. Decided against grabbing it - it was HEAVY - but now I have a twinge of regret not getting it...
Reminds me of the tank I had as an undergrad research assistant - everything was still intact, including the sealant. Decided against grabbing it - it was HEAVY - but now I have a twinge of regret not getting it...
OP was last logged in early July, and hasn't posted since January! Sadly, I don't know if we'll see an update. This is a really cool tank. They definitely don't make things like this anymore.
The OP restores vintage tanks as a hobby. If you search for his previous threads, you can see some amazing old aquariums.
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