Our trip to the Georgia Aquarium + !!!Behind the Scenes!!! *TONS OF PICS*

[binaryterror]

We printed out tickets online, and were there when they opened the doors. Thats why we had sch a good time. It was't crowded at all. But you are somewhat right on the variety thing. I would have really liked to see a French Angel and some Emperor angels in there. That would have made the tank really neat.

 

[Eve]

I absolutely agree with the critiques (too crowded/lack of variety, etc.). Actually, I made a list of them and posted them for our local reef club

There are a mix of real and artificial corals in the large reef and you can tell which ones are real and which are artificial (the large bouncing table coral near the bottom , but I also think they are trying and are getting better as time goes on. I probably wouldn't drive hundreds of miles to see it, but I'm still glad I went while in Atlanta.

 

[binaryterror]

Yeah, they plan to make the reef 100% real corals. I think it will look really nice when they finish that.

 

[Texsun]

As someone who has volunteered in the past at a public aquarium, I can say that there is a certain ramp-up time for any major institution that lasts several years. Part of it is the systems maturing, collection building, as well as simply finding the right mix of fauna to display that will satisfy the average joe (where are all the Finding Nemo fish?), "hardcore" enthusiasts, as well as the goals of the institution (ie propagation and breeding).

Our aquarium (Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach) had a fairly unimpressive collection when it first opened, but over the years the collection has grown tremendously in both size and variety. During my year working there, the Aquarium organized a collection trip to Palau, New Guinea and came back with a bounty of fish and coral. Also, through trading and what not the collection has become more varied; displays have changed significantly to the point where I don’t recognize most of the displays from when I was there.

I’m assuming the same applies with the Georgia Aquarium and they are not just going to rest on being the biggest with the biggest fish.

BTW, nice pictures and thanks for sharing!

 

[Henry22]

I live in kentucky, and the newport aquarium is a joke. The Shedd is really good but there really arent that many reef displays their, except that cylindrical one which is actually pretty cool. Im hoping to go to the georgia aquarium in september and do the behind the scenes tour.

 

[brian is cool]

the behind the scense is worth it u get to see so much stuff that u would never guess goes on

 

[sean48183]

Thanks for the pics.

Looks pretty cool and I like the big whale shark display. Definately worth a trip the next time I'm going through Atlanta.

I'm just curious but do they have a killer shark display. It looks from your picks like they have hammerheads, black tips, and bonnetheads but I didn't see any of the bad boys(tiger's, bulls, macko's, etc).

Some cool aquariums I would recommend similar to what atlanta seems to have are the Atlantis as already mentioned(Awsome shark display with queen triggers, jewfish and massive rays to go with the bad boys) epcot's blue seas (huge aqaurium 3 stories deep) and the maui aquarium(built right over the ocean with real salt water pumped in). And of course my favorite The Ocean(actually get to dive in with these beauties)

 

[binaryterror]

the cool thing about the whale sharks is that they are all only half the zie of what they will be when they are full adults. It will be sooo cool to see a 25' whale shark swimming across the big front panel!

 

[binaryterror]

up

 

[binaryterror]

up, I want more people to see this thread, hence the reason I am upping the thread.

 

[thor32766]

yeah great thread, that reef tank is unbelievable! great job on this post!

 

[binaryterror]

Thanks, I am just upping it because I spent over 2 hours on this thread, and I want it to be appreciated! =)

 

[Clownlover]

Thanks for sharing with us. I loved the penguins!!!!!

 

[binaryterror]

Haha, did you see the little tube that you can stick you head in so you can be right in there with the penguins? I didnt go in it since it was so crowded, but it looked cool.

 

[Hopestar075]

alot of the reef fish were rescued from illeagal trading and that might be why they have so many of one species

Their heart is in the right place I think

 

[binaryterror]

That is correct. They got most of there reef fish from live fish that were conficated from the airport. So the airport called the Aquarium, and they said "bring 'em in!". I bought the DVD about how they built it, thats how I know that.

 

[MeuserReef]

Thanks for sharing. I hope to get there one day

 

[binaryterror]

It's a great trip. I would go again.

 

[brian is cool]

it was really cool