**official - BEST Public Aquarium - thread **

[FunkSkunk]

I just visited the Newport Aquarium in Northern Kentucky and it was the best I've been to! I know there are probably better aquariums out there so I did a search on public aquariums and didn't find anything?! I think it's time to start a list of the best aquariums in the world! So post up your favorite public aquarium and why, maybe include a link to there webpage/pics if you've got them! I think this would be a great resource for the members of MFK!!

here's my contribution:
www.newportonthelevee.com/tenants/newportaquarium.cfm (actual website is currently down- www.newportaquarium.com)
Named the No. 1 aquarium in the Midwest in the Zagat Survey’s U.S. Family Travel Guide in 2004.
* 1 Million Gallons Fresh and Salt Water
* 100,000 Square Feet
* 2.5 Levels
* 11,000 Marine Animals
* 600 Species
* 60 Exhibits
* 200 Feet of Clear, Underwater Tunnels
* 3 Sections of See-Through Flooring
* 50 Sharks
* 380,000-Gallon Shark Tank
* The only Shark Ray in this Hemisphere
* One of the Nation's Largest Open-Air Shark Viewing Exhibits
* One of World's Only Aquariums With Seamless Tunnels - No Bands of Metal Obstructing Viewing

I spent a solid 3 hours walking through it and had an amazing time, its gonna be hard to top this one. The Acrylic tunnels were amazing and withou the seams it was surreal, fish swam overhead & it looked like you could touch them!! They also had some bird and Otter exhibit that was ok, also a few reptiles/snakes scattered throughout that were interesting. Especially the giant alligator snapping turtle thats about as big as your kitchen table! Also the had a penguin exhibit at the end that was lame, but the kids i was with seemed to like it, and it did have seating which you needed after 3 hours of walking! At the entrance it had a bunch of real nice planted Freshwater tank. Had a couple reef tanks but nothing that amazing, i've seen better coral in my LFS, but the one i measured was 25 feet wide! so i guess that would be a ton of coral to look after!! Overall it was well worth the 17.95 I paid to get in, except that i didn't have a digital camera!!UGH!

 

[Marce]

You can instantly rule out the florida aquarium in Tampa. I volunteered there recently and was quite unimpressed. They have no cichlids or exotic FW fish. Just florida based aquatic life. They do however have a 250 pound goliath grouper.

 

[FunkSkunk]

The only lame thing about the Newport Aquarium is the gift shop, just a bunch of hokie-cheap junk. Nothing really cool that any serious Fish lover would want. They even had some of those disgusting dolphin figuriens that look real tacky blueish-chrome, pretty much the exact ones you could get at any dollar store!! But i guess it is in Kentucky!

kinda like this......

 

[downset21]

there is that japanese aquarium with the 2 or 3 whale sharks in it, among other large animals. to be honest, i dont trust that much water being held up like that. I'm no engineer, but I'd hafta assume that bad weather could be dangerous to something holding that much pressure. I'll admire it through pictures I think. I go to the new england aquarium.. it's nothing special though. It's fun, but I think they could do better.

 

[Ash]

The only aquarium I ve really beend to is Sea World - Kissimee (yes *most FL theme parks are Kissimmee not orlando I have pictures but they be in the photo lounge area thing. Its fun if its your first time going. I have year round passes. I cant wait to see the georgia aquarium though!!

 

[softturtle]

I have heard the Newport aquarium is cool. I've been trying to get there the past 3 times I went to Kentuky. Next time I'll get there.

My personal favorite is the John G. Shedd Aquarium. Dubbed "The Worlds Aquarium". It is located on the Southwest shore of Lake Michigan, in Chicago IL. It is one of the oldest public aquariums in the world, opening in 1929. But don't let the old age fool you, it is a high-tech, top of the line facility that has recently added a new level to public veiwing(shark reef). One of my favorite parts of the aquarium is the amazon exhibit. They have all the fish we dream of and most of them are monsters. I think the cost for everything is about $25, which is a little expensive, but were talking about chicago. Not a cheap place to go hang out.

All in all this is the favorite aquarium that I have been to(it also helps that I live a half hour away ).

here is the web site: http://www.sheddaquarium.org/sea/

 

[guppy]

Montery Bay, Ca. is nice.

 

[Zoodiver]

There are several that I like. It depends on what you want to see. MBA is the mark to meet I think. They have a magnificent display and a highly invested in the research end of the field. I think that is the important stuff to look for. We'll see how the new Georgia Aquarium matches up once it's had time to settle in.

Shedd (www.sheddaquarium.org), Dallas World (www.dwazoo.com), Underwater Adventure (www.sharky.tv) and a handful of others offer a great time for the money and are doing work outside their walls. Alot of places are just overpriced petstores when it comes to what fish they are showing. I go to a place to see something that I can't see anywhere else. It's not too fun to see the same fish displayed over and over. Just my $.02

 

[FunkSkunk]

I've also been to the Charleston, SC Aquarium a few years ago --> www.scaquarium.org But just like their website it was just average. The main reason i say that is the Aquarium has great tanks its just kinda small compared to other aquariums I've been too. There's just not that much to see and I only got a little over a hour's worth for my money, and that was streeeeeetching it out too!

Some neat things about the aquarium is how they make you start at the top of the aquarium and you kinda of spiral down through the entire thing, you get to view the huge tanks from the top at eye level (see the pictures) and then spiral down to view them at the bottom. There is a huge cylinder acrylic aquarium as you enter as well. You can also go outside and view the bay area where the huge cargo ships come in, I also saw a few dolphins poke their heads out a few times which was neat but rare.

The best thing about the aquarium was the gift shop!! No kiddin' that place was cool, lots of neat stuff, shirts, books, games, i probably spent an extra 30 minutes just looking around!

Basically its good enough to go see if your down in Charleston but I wouldn't make a trip just for that. Decent aquarium just a little on the small side compared to others i've been too.


Here's some pics I've found of it:

 

[turtall]

Whoa.. who's the babe in the next to last pic; she can give me crabs anytime. Seriously, I went to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans must be 15 years ago and it blew me away. I had never seen anything like it in San Diego where I grew up. They had I think the first tunnell like the one you describe in KY, walked through a Caribean reef. It will probably be closed for at least a year. Thanks to Katrina, they lost some 10,000 fish.