Any Really Good Public Aquariums?

[JDogg]

i live in Minnesota and today i took my students to Underwater Adventures, it is in the Mall of America. they have a decent Shark/Stingray tank, you walk though underneath in a tunnel, a reef tank and also a Mississippi river tank with sturgeon, gars and catfish. they have a couple of small reef tanks and some small native fish tanks. biggest disappointment was there "amazon tanks" one was only around 125 gallons containing some eartheaters and a couple species of tetra, then they had a larger "pond" with freshwater stingrays and some kind of pirahna-like fish i was not familiar with.

the Minnesota Zoo has a decent shark tank and reef fish tank. and in Duluth, MN there is a large-ish aquarium that keeps native fish...

i have seen a couple of video of Lake Malawi tanks online... but i do not know where those aquariums are located to see it in real life.

where are there some really good public aquariums?

i would really love to see a large Amazon tank... something over 10,000 gallons

 

[blazeyreef]

I think you live too far away, especially for a field trip, but the Chattanooga aquarium is AWESOME! also the Georgia has a good one, and I have heard Baltimore is good as well

 

[JDogg]

I think you live too far away, especially for a field trip, but the Chattanooga aquarium is AWESOME! also the Georgia has a good one, and I have heard Baltimore is good as well

looking more for MY vacation

not so much a school field trip lol

 

[Jchillin]

Man, we here in NYC are lucky. We actually have an "Official" Aquarium located in Brooklyn and an "Unofficial" Aquarium display at the Bronx Zoo.

The NY Aquarium in Brooklyn is well known already NY Aquarium.

The Bronx Zoo has probably the largest ponds I've ever seen. Not only are the ponds huge, you can see both the top and bottom views. There are a ton of tropical tanks containing nearly every species of fish to boot.

Why doncha come east and enjoy?

 

[JDogg]

Man, we here in NYC are lucky. We actually have an "Official" Aquarium located in Brooklyn and an "Unofficial" Aquarium display at the Bronx Zoo.

The NY Aquarium in Brooklyn is well known already NY Aquarium.

The Bronx Zoo has probably the largest ponds I've ever seen. Not only are the ponds huge, you can see both the top and bottom views. There are a ton of tropical tanks containing nearly every species of fish to boot.

Why doncha come east and enjoy?

my sister in-law was just in new york, she hated it... but she is kind of a country bumpkin... but yes some day i want to visit new york, see the Bronx Zoo, I have heard they have a realy cool Gorilla exibit (at least i think that is the bronx zoo) and Natural History museum...

 

[bs6749]

Shedd's Aquarium in Chicago? Went there about 8-9 years ago and I loved it.

 

[Jchillin]

but yes some day i want to visit new york, see the Bronx Zoo, I have heard they have a realy cool Gorilla exibit (at least i think that is the bronx zoo) and Natural History museum...

Funny you should mention that...AA members from the city have had group outings to all three locations. There are actually some threads buried in here of the events. Yes, the gorilla exhibit is at the Bronx Zoo. It is worth the trip, we've actually been able to convince a resident of Washington State and one from Virginia to make the trip up.

 

[Mosaic]

I second the Chattanooga aquarium, especially if you're a FW person.

The FW at the Georgia aquarium is very disappointing. Their Amazon tank had just neons, cories, and angels, and their Malawi tank was not scaped very well. I've seen better versions of both in hobbyist's collections. But if you're a SW person, the reef wall is amazing!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I've been to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN and had a good time. Mostly S/W fish but it was pretty cool. When we go to Chicago in the spring to visit friends we are going to Shedd's. Apparently St. Louis has an aquarium also (I have lived here for 24 years and never knew) that we plan to check out.

 

[Sicklid]

Florida is nice to visit in winter!

We have a couple here, I gave my opinion on the Florida Aquarium in Tampa in another thread, and it wasn't so good for freshwater. There is one in Miami that is okay, and their zoo is nice too. I grew up in New Yawk and went to all of the places mentioned regularly, and can verify that they are all great to see.

 

[QTOFFER]

The New England Aquarium in Boston is the best I've ever been to - mostly SW, as I recall. The Baltimore Aquarium is a close second. The Baltimore Aquarium has a very nice and huge Amazon display.

 

[DocOc]

It's all about the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA. World class stuff. Admittedly, it is a lot of Pacific displays which focus on kelp forests, but there are a lot of great little reef ones too.
I also like our local Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography here in San Diego.

 

[alaher2]

Chicago does have the proclaimed "Greatest Aquarium in the Midwest" with the Shedd Aquarium, defintely a place worth checking out if you are in the windy city. I haven't been to every aquarium in the midwest so I don't know if the statement is true, but is the best I've ever been to.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I will have to third (or fourth) the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Definitley really awesome. I have never been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but would love to go sometime and check out the shark exhibit. If you come on a vacation to Baltimore, Washington is only about 35-45 minutes from there and the National Zoo in DC has nice exhibits as well, as well as lots of other touristy things to do. There is also an aquarium in the basement of the Department of Commerce Building that is small but...different for sure.

 

[godzilla]

Boston is my favorite, baltimore also very nice....I wonder whats near me now, never been anywhere in/around columbus except the zoo, and I dont remember what I saw there...

 

[fish_4_all]

The Seattle Aquarium is really cool. The biggest attraction is the 40 foot tall circle tank they have that you can watch them feed fish from Salmon to Ling Cod. Is really nice to see fish act the way they would in nature with their ambush techniques and sneal and gulp tactics. Also helps to figure out how to catch them.

 

[hc8719]

the Chattanooga aquarium is AWESOME!

theres a Chattanooga in ohio, and im going to assume thats not it, which state?

 

[Jchillin]

theres a Chattanooga in ohio, and im going to assume thats not it, which state?

According to the profile, it's in Tennessee.

 

[bs6749]

Has anyone been to the new one in Atlanta? Isn't it supposed to be the largest aquarium in the world? My aunt, uncle and their kids went and said it was really nice/neat.

If you get to Shedd's aquarium, be sure to check out the Beluga whale exhibit.

 

[Mosaic]

Has anyone been to the new one in Atlanta? Isn't it supposed to be the largest aquarium in the world? My aunt, uncle and their kids went and said it was really nice/neat.

I think it could have been better. It didn't live up to its hype, in my opinion. There are a lot of non-fish (penguins, whales, otters, etc) that I didn't find as interesting. FW was disappointing. But they really went all out on their SW.