UK: Where to see bichirs in London Area?

[lardieleftover]

Hello all!

I am travelling to the United Kingdom (London-Leighton Buzzard) area in a few months and am interested in finding a place to see some large bichirs in a public aquarium or zoo to share with significant other.

Please let me know of any suggestions that you might have

 

[lardieleftover]

Update: planning to visit blue planet aquarium (Ellesmere port/chester UK) and National SEA LIFE Centre Birmingham

 

[Lotsoffishandthings]

Blue planet doesn’t have any polys, was there last week. It’s a decent aquarium tho. It’s Been a few years since I went to sea life centre in Birmingham but I don’t think they had any then, it’s a smaller aquarium than blue planet.

If you’re visiting blue planet then Chester zoo is a 10 min drive from there. The aquarium in the zoo is small but they have various tanks dotted around in some of the exhibits. There’s a massive gharial in with a load of barbs and turtles which is quite impressive. They also used to have Asian aros and Australian lungfish but I haven’t seen them in there recently.

If you’re in the London area it’s worth going to wildwoods in Enfield. Again not been there for a few years but it used to be one of the best lfs in the uk for more unusual stuff. Also, there’s maybe 4 or 5 fish shops on the same stretch of road so plenty to see.

 

[Lotsoffishandthings]

Oh and Chester zoo does have a rope fish tank. Probably not quite what you’re thinking of but closest thing I can think of.

 

[Josh's Fish]

There's not really much choice in the UK, let alone London, especially if you want to see large bichirs. Most of the aquariums around here focus on saltwater, with a handful with freshwater exhibits, and even less with large freshwater exhibits. Freshwater fishes are among the most imperilled biotia on Earth, you'd think they'd deserve a little more attention.

The Darwin Centre in the Natural History Museum has some nice wet specimens of polypterids on display, along with a couple of taxidermed ones too. Though it has been a few years since I last went. Aside from this, your best chance at seeing big bichirs, will be to check in with local aquatic shops or fishkeepers.

If you want to make a trip to see big bichirs in an public aquarium, southeast Asia is the place to research!