Back in the late eighteen hundreds when the English aristocracy started keeping tropical fish as pets, the fish tanks where very clumsy tanks with small glass windows made of thick glass. As the hobby took off and became more sophisticated, the tanks started evolving and today there are some truly impressive fish tanks - some as high as 5 stories made entirely of glass - or are they?While the common perception is that fish tanks are all made of glass, the reality is that glass is no longer the material of choice. Plastic technology has come a long way and acrylic fish tanks are now as common as glass tanks and many people actually prefer acrylic tanks these days.At first there is very little different between a glass and an acrylic aquarium. They are both transparent and they both offer a good home to your pet fish. When you take a closer look you will start to see that there are some significant differences that you need to look into before you buy a tank.Glass tanks are heavy and expensive. The price of glass has sky rocketed and because a fish tank has to use tempered glass its even more expensive. Apart from that, sealing a glass tank is not always a pretty sight as silicone is messy and notorious for collecting algae in a tank. Acrylic tanks actually solve a lot of these problems.Acrylic is relatively inexpensive and very lightweight. Apart from that it can be formed and shaped very easily and curved aquarium tanks are once again all the craze (bending glass is incredibly expensive). A problem with acrylic however is that its a softer material and can scratch much easier than glass. Its also not as transparent as glass as the light refraction is much better with glass.All and all, both glass and acrylic offer good options and in the end it boils down to your own personal needs and preferences.See my website to learn more about the latest fish tank aquariums and read more about the new biUbe Aquarium.