sparkie, i suspect you were talking about the "fish 'n' flush" when you asked whether they were real fish.  and i think they are (although i sure didn't take that photo) -- the thing is designed to keep live fish in it.

but hey, while we're on the subject, here is an incredible fish set up that trumps all of these. you may have to go to the site to appreciate this fully, but it's effectively a tunnel through the air that enables the fish to literall swim around the room.

http://knuttz.net/hosted_pages/Home-Aquarium-20061031 

I currently an a bit over the top with the fish thing.
I maintain 500 gallons in 7 tanks.

A few notes.

the cheapest way to do it is to build your own stand and canopy for a 55 gallon tank, then  light it with a 4 foot shop light from the hardware store.  This gives you a sleek 4 foot tank that doesn't protrude into the room and enough light to grow real plants.  The stands you can buy are usually either over priced, clunky or both so I suggest you build your own.  Plywood & paint work extremely well just make sure that you follow one of the designs online.

Other things: spray paint the back of the tank a solid color (black works really well, but any dark color that will match your decor works) and use a decomposed granite or aquatic plant soil on the bottom instead of expensive aquarium gravel.  It looks better, plants grow better and it saves you 70-95% of the cost.

lastly, use a canister filter that you can hide underneath the tank and a black submersible heater to keep all the unsightly cables and tubes at bay.

oh yeah don't forget this thing.  holy crap. (uh, no pun intended.)   the "fish'n'flush."  only $299 + tax.

it seems that the beauty of the big-time aquaria is the fish and plants themselves rather than cool design (darn, huh?). for some reason i'm unable to post the pictures themselves here on curbly, but check out the "palmtop aquaria" on this site (i'm especially fond of the light bulb one). these little projects aren't exactly representative of what they do, but the site is populated by an international community of knowledgeable and clearly very committed aquarists. it would surely be a great resource if you are serious about building an aquarium.

http://www.aquahobby.com/tanks/e_tank0603.php

but more along the lines of your question, i recently came across a pet-oriented site called chimpfeet.com that has several really interesting fishbowls, too.

they used to carry the fishbowl bookends (below), too, but now you'll have to find those elsewhere, such as wrapables.com, which also has this goofy tv-set style aquarium.

i've never kept fish, but i bought one of these s anyway thinking i might build a terrarium in it. eventually, my boyfriend put a betta fish in it (they are easy to care for because they don't require aeration). if we had a regular goldfish in there, i would apply a mylar backing on the flat side, but that would make the betta fish constantly try to fight its reflection -- not good for its health. instead, i'm going to try to find a nice damask because that will have the shininess without stressing out the fish.

Here's a cool idea:

FishFreedom on YouTube 

This isn't a fish tank perse, but it's pretty cool.

Available on Ebay.