Saltwater Tanks @ the Omniplex

[captbunzo]

Ladies & Gentlemen of COMAS:

I was up at the Omniplex with my kids & wife & some friends on Thursday. It was a great day. However, near the end of the day we stumbled across some nicely sized saltwater fish tanks that they have setup. Now - the tanks themself are neat. One is a in wall tank probably 180 or so gallons in size. The other is about 16 inches deep, placed at waist level, open on top, and curves out in the shape of a J for folks to walk around. I'd call it sort of a lagoon style tank.


J-Shaped Tank (person blurred out as they are some stranger)


Big Tank

The downside of it all was that the tanks were in horrible shape. I mean, it was truely disappointing considering what they have to work with.

The in-wall big tank was the worst. It had a yellow tang, a couple of blue tangs, and a clownfish in it that all didn't look so good.


Poor Yellow Tang


Poor Blue Tangs


Poor Clownfish

And the J-Shaped tank was just so underused. It mostly had a small pile of damselfish of various types, a puffer or two, etc, inside. It is a tank that really has so much potential and is just plain boring. You could also tell that there had been many more fish in the tanks as the display listed pictures of livestock supposedly that should be present. Most of it was missing, presumed dead.

So, I guess I am just throwing this out there to see if anyone in the OKC area is interested in contacting them about these tanks and seeing if they are willing to accept some help and spend some money to get the tanks fixed up. I think there is a lot of work there. If we weren't busy with the COMAS tank, I might suggest we take it on as a club project. I really wish I was in ther area and could take it on because it could be such a nice display.

Any thoughts, comments, etc?

 

[hiflykitty]

the whole omniplex deal is on the downward trend. It used to be the way coolest place to go when i was a kid, but now its kinda run down and neglected. I think helping out with the salt water tanks there would be neat, but i'm not sure it would be worth the club's effort as the omniplex itself is a dying entity.

 

[n8duncan]

I have to agree. Back when I was a kid, the Omniplex tanks were some of the first that sparked my interest in saltwater. I remember when the J shaped tank use to house many rays that you could feed. It is such a shame that over the years the funding and interest in the complex has declined.

N8

 

[Lazyreefer]

In the first picture......



Is Scotty beaming someone up?

 

[captbunzo]

Careful - if they find out you know, we'll never hear from you again...

 

[mskohl]

Well, I think it's a matter of priority for the Omniplex. In recent years, I've noticed that they are attending to a much younger audience. I'm not complaining, my 4 year old loves it, they are building a new treehouse playground area that will be huge and in recent years put in the toddler areas. I think they still focus on the science for the pre-teens and young teenagers, it's just that this age group (as a whole) wouldn't appreciate the saltwater tanks. Plus, the museum would have to hire specialized staff to care for them.

Just my opinion though.