Big undertaking

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wokka

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 3, 2018
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Hi Guys,
Been trawling through the forums for info, and I'm hoping you guys can help me out.

*Disclaimer*
I am not a big fish keeper, (although I dive), my job is to put crazy ideas into action.
I dropped a message on the one to one admin forum to try and find out if I could post this, so apologies if I've broken any rules

I work for an events company in the middle east, and long story short, I've got an idea that I need to be sure I can pull off before I put it in a presentation to client.

We have a event coming up where we want to create interaction between VIP's and the ocean in a sheltered lagoon, and the idea is to have a giant inverted aquarium with walkways around it

I've been talking to a few engineers, and while they laughed, they said it is possible.

Basically, I will be getting a 12 ft diameter, 14 ft tall acrylic cylinder and floating it in the lagoon on a custom barge with the bottom open to the ocean

Where I need your help, is:

How long will I need to have everything in place for the wild fish to get used to it?
Have any of you tried large inverted aquariums? What issues did you face?
Which tank manufacturers are 1. crazy enough and 2. capable enough to pull off the tank construction?
Any tips on temporary coral relocation that limits environmental damage? Do I instead look at man made structures? how can I attract the fish to colonise the new location?
Will timed feeding draw the fish to the tanks? How long do I need to run the timed feeding to see results?
No doubt many many more questions will come up

I'm trying to lock in a marine biologist to consult on the project, but am running out of time, anyone know any?

Fish species include:
Wrasse
Triggerfish
Grouper
Chromis
Parrot fish
Surgeon fish
Barracuda

Cheers,

Wokka
 
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Wow this sounds neat. I hope you can post pics if you end up getting this up and running.
 
Use a few pieces of dead wood or artificial corals to attract fish, a dispenser with pelleted foods will attract some fish, while clip type dispensers can hold stuff like dried seaweed to attract herbivorous species, if you feed the fish daily, within a few days they'll start hanging around.
I would dive and feed bits of fish, cooked peas , nori,bread and shrimp daily for a more impressive spectacle
 
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Deadliestviper7 said:
Use a few pieces of dead wood or artificial corals to attract fish, a dispenser with pelleted foods will attract some fish, while clip type dispensers can hold stuff like dried seaweed to attract herbivorous species, if you feed the fish daily, within a few days they'll start hanging around.
I would dive and feed bits of fish, cooked peas , nori,bread and shrimp daily for a more impressive spectacle
Click to expand...
Hehe. Then with the same system in place when there are lots of herbivores, then the smart carnivores will learn this is where the food hangs out as well. Dinner and a show for spectators.

Circle of life baby.
 
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Did the supplier give you a cost estimate? What's the client's budget?

A 12 ft diameter, 14 ft tall acrylic cylinder made out of acrylic that's over 5" thick (130MM) is likely going to cost 6 figures, each. Each cylinder (even without the weight of the water) will weigh A LOT! I'm not sure exactly how much, but I'll conservatively say each will weigh north of 5 tons. You will need some heavy duty machinery to move something like that around.

In regards to getting the fish to go where you want by enticing them with food, it could be anywhere from a few weeks, to a few months before they are comfortable with it.

Please post photos if this gets built. Would love to see it.
 
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aldiaz33 said:
Did the supplier give you a cost estimate? What's the client's budget?

A 12 ft diameter, 14 ft tall acrylic cylinder made out of acrylic that's over 5" thick (130MM) is likely going to cost 6 figures, each. Each cylinder (even without the weight of the water) will weigh A LOT! I'm not sure exactly how much, but I'll conservatively say each will weigh north of 5 tons. You will need some heavy duty machinery to move something like that around.

In regards to getting the fish to go where you want by enticing them with food, it could be anywhere from a few weeks, to a few months before they are comfortable with it.

Please post photos if this gets built. Would love to see it.
Click to expand...

You're pretty much there on everything, but a few bits out
6 figures each is right, but in GBP
I'm calculating for 11 tons empty
There will be barge mounted cranes, Mobile cranes and barges to get these all in place

If all goes well, and please someone pull me up if I'm wrong, but this will be the first inverted wild Aquarium, as well as the largest wild aquarium. I'm banking on these to get my pitch over the line.

If I manage to pull this off, I'll have it up by the end of January
 
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