Some pics from Underwater World, Mooloolaba.

[greenterra]

We spent some time at Coloundra recently and visited Underwater World at Mooloolaba while we were up that way.
Overall, I have to say I am somewhat disappointed with the place compared to previous visits especially when it comes to the freshwater exhibits.
They have gone downhill in a big way. Apart from the red devils, there were no big American cichlids on display at all and many of the larger fish like
the barra, pacu and paroon sharks etc are looking in very poor condition. I would have captured more but many of the specimens weren't even worth
shooting due to their poor condition. Sad really. Anyway, I did manage a few keepers from there so I thought I'd share some with you guys.



The Mangrove jack has grown a fair bit since last time I saw it. My partner was a little surprised by it's size.
Now she has a real understanding of what size our jack is capable of attaining.

I threw in a few of the seals. They are always good value although again, I was disappointed overall here too.
The show they put on fell very short of what I have seen in the past. Apparently they are under different management now?

 

[xander]

very nice brent! i like the sawfish. no gar? hehe

also, are you willing to share the settings you used for the shots? they look great assuming you didn't have access to an off-cam flash.

 

[Miguel]

That first tank must be awesome, Brent!

 

[lix.ma14]

that's a huge jack!

 

[Hao]

Nice shots, Brent! No Jardini or Leichardti?

 

[greenterra]

very nice brent! i like the sawfish. no gar? hehe

also, are you willing to share the settings you used for the shots? they look great assuming you didn't have access to an off-cam flash.

No probs Xander.
The 1st shot was without any flash @ f/2.8, 1/125sec, ISO 2000. The last shot has all the same settings except @ ISO 1600. These were with the 24-70L lens. All the rest are with the 70-200L IS II lens.
Photos 2, 3 ,4 and 5 are @ f/4,1/200sec,ISO 800. I had to use flash here as the tanks were very dark but only as ettl(diffused) and mounted to the cam so I had to shoot at an angle for these.
The painted cray photos were @ f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO 1250 and no flash at all.

 

[greenterra]

Nice shots, Brent! No Jardini or Leichardti?

No Hao. They used to have them but we could not see any this visit. The stock levels are way down on what used to be there unfortunately.

 

[greenterra]

That first tank must be awesome, Brent!

It would be much better if the fish were in better condition Miguel. As you can see in this shot, many of the barra are looking like they are just going to drop any day now. All have damage to them, damaged fins, many with one eye or hazy eyes, lots of scales missing or just outright wounds etc. Other people were like..Oooh look how big they are...As a fishkeeper, I just couldn't look past the condition of the fish. I would have liked to get some decent shots of the barra. As you can see they are decent size but I honestly could not find one worth shooting. Sadly, this photo actually does their condition justice. Closer photos like below reveal a little more.

After sitting there for a while, it wasn't hard to work out where many of the injuries were coming from. The Mangrove jack was the definite king of the tank and would at times just smash some of the barra. It was also in much better condition. One doesn't have to be Einstein to read between the lines there.

I missed the action part but this was a face off that didn't turn out too well for the barra. I'll keep my Mangrove Jack solo.

I also wondered how much damage the sawtooth was doing at times as it would barge it's way through the barra..

 

[Miguel]

Wow....

And they let it go on....

 

[greenterra]

Here's a few more shots.

I have no idea what this guy is so if someone smarter than I can please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated thanks.

This guy looked like it had a bit of age to it.