Public Aquaria

[thlosey]

Work has been sort of slow today, so I have been on the net looking at a bunch of personal web sites that various reefers have set up. I am amazed at some of the magnificent tanks that people have been able to put together.

Looking at these tanks made me realize how far behind some of our public aquariums are. I am a volunteer scuba diver at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and in the last year I have visited quite a few public aquariums. I have been distinctly un-impressed with the reef tanks that these institutions keep.

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has a couple nice tanks, but when I was there last month, they had many more that looked terible. Slime algae, dying corals, and bare tanks were just a few of the problems I saw.

It seems to me that any die-hard reefer worth their salt could do a much better job if they had half the money that goes into these facilities. I have talked with a couple of the professional aquarists at the National Aquarium in Baltimore about their reef displays and they seemed to be stuck in a early nienties mindset. One of them had never heard of a refugium!

Am I wrong to think that these people should be leaders in the field and that we should be learning new and innovative techniques from them? I am sure that there are some contributions that I just don't know about, but I still think that if people pay $15 or more to visit a supposedly world class aquarium, they should be able to see a world class reef tank.

I would be interested to see what you all will have to say about this.

Ted

[blistexluv]

HAHAHA! you've obviously never been to camden's aquarium! now there's a world class facility. this is obviously a joke. you've never seen bad until you've been there. it's sad. to be fair, i haven't been in a few years, but i have a hard time believing they could have improved much considering the way it started. there were about 4 tanks then, all of which showcased...THE FISH OF THE DELAWARE RIVER!! no way. i guess i shouldn't have expected too much coming from the armpit of the northeast though.

[vanguard]

Originally posted by blistexluv:
HAHAHA! you've obviously never been to camden's aquarium! now there's a world class facility. this is obviously a joke. you've never seen bad until you've been there. it's sad. to be fair, i haven't been in a few years, but i have a hard time believing they could have improved much considering the way it started. there were about 4 tanks then, all of which showcased...THE FISH OF THE DELAWARE RIVER!!

FWIW, this aquarium has improved a great deal since their start with "the brown fish". If you go back you might like it.

I haven't been there for a few years (but more recently than you it seems) either. However, the last time I was there they had a nice marine display, seals, and a manatee (surely spelled wrong).

Vanguard

having lived in the SF bay area in the 60s and 70's i had made many trip to Stienhart Aquarium in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
I could spend all day there, but when I went back to visit a few years back, it seemed to have lost a lot of the magic it held when I was younger. Circumstance brought us close to Monterey so my wife said we gotta go to the Aquarium Since we are this close. I about had a coronary at the admission, but once inside they had to pry me out. You wanna talk big tanks!!! They had schools of Bluefin Tuna in the big tank along with Mola(ocean sunfish). They also had an awesome display of jellyfishes and a traveling exhibit of toxic and venomous creatures from around the world.
I enjoyed it so much, i drove back down from Fairfield the next day to see it again

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[Staceon]

Hi Ted,

I know your feelings well. There are certainly some showcase public aquariums out there, but there are many more that are still gutting it out thru trial and error. The Indianapolis zoo is one of a handfull of public aquarium that I have been to in the mid-west. Not one of them even remotely impressed me. Some had PAINTED corals on plastic looking rock.

One thing to remeber is that the sites you see on boards like this is not from the "average" hobbiest. I am not trying to see that we are elitest, or that we are better in some way, its just the overwhemly majority of people out there who go into a LFS and buy corals are only wanting a nice piece of furniture, NOT a marine aquarium. Maybe thats all the public wants too? I dont know either, its something that has baffled me too.

[Aquaman]

It really depends on the public aquarium. There are some really good ones out here in CA. I had an internship over the summer at the Birch aquarium run by Scripps Institute of oceanography and their sps reef exhibit is pretty breathtaking. I was involved in talking to people about the exhibits and not taking care of them so I can't say about the maintanance techniques used.

The best public aquarium I have been to however is the huge Monterey Bay Aquarium. All exhibits focus on various habitats around the Monterey Bay region, no coral reefs, but they are all amazing. I could spend days in there! I think the quality of exhibits really depends on the caliber of people maintaining them and what they now about the captive care of aquatic ecosystems. If the aquarium receives a good amount funding from ticket sales and private sources then the aquarium can afford to hire educated staff. I know the Monterey Bay Aquarium has large private support for what it does because it also has a research institute, combined with all the money that comes in from tickets (and let me tell you that place is always packed!). One aquariast I spoke with at the MBA had his BS in Marine Biology and I assume makes a fair salary for taking care of the exhibits.

But anyway, I guess I am saying you all should come out here to CA and see some REAL nice public aquariums !!

[thlosey]

Wow, it sounds like I really need to check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I will be in medical school in CA next year, so I will be sure and make a pilgrimage.

The best public aquarium I have been to is in Cape Town, South Africa. It is not nearly as large as the ones here in the US, but every one of their exhibits was informative and full of life. Their Kelp forest had real kelp living in it, not plastic like most. I will post some pics of it when I get home this evening.

It seems like most of the aquariums here put more emphasis on the number of gallons in their tanks than how well they replicate the natural environment. I think Freud would be able to explain that pretty well! I think the prime example of this is the "Living Seas" exhibit at Epcot in FL. The only thing living in it (other than the tourists) is the fish, the rest is concrete painted to look like coral. It seems more like a swiming pool than an aquarium.

I just want to see a tank that is more than 1000 gallons and looks like some of the best hobbyest's tanks, except on a grand scale. It should have as natural a filtration system as possible and that should be part of the exhibit. The refugium should also be on display. I think one of the public aquariums could put together an amazing display that would cost a lot less than the barren looking "oceanariums" that are so popular now.

Well, I guess I will just have to be content with my 10 gallon piece of the ocean for now.

Ted

[Wrasse Man]

When I was living in Chicago I loved the Shedd...but that was a while ago, and before I got into the salt side of the hobby. I recently (about 1-2 years ago) visited family out in Denver, and HAD to visit their new aquarium. Granted, I was there on the 2nd day it was open, but I was unipressed to say the least. The main display was of trout. The main attraction was that they had a leopard or something living in the 'Amazon' section. The Amazon section seemed to focus on tetras, admittedly, I was looking for some discus and arrowana.

I have heard that the Smithsonian's tanks are something to be seen though.

Just my 2 cents worth

Need coffee!

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"Nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank."

[thlosey]

Yes, the tanks at the Smithsonian were pretty good, but they tore them all down last year. They had one really big reef tank that was set up with an ATS long before they were popular with hobbyists. I remember reading somewhere that it really didn't work and that the only way they kept it stocked was by constantly collecting new corals.

Anyway, here are some pics I took at the aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa. Wouldn't you like to have one of these tanks in your living room?

Ted