We could have gotten Whale sharks and probably molas in Sea aquarium

Whenfrilledsharks

Well-Known Member
So hear me out. In sometime around the 1980s, a whale shark was found in Singapore waters, sadly it was killed. If they spared it and take it to the Van Kleef Aquarium, Singapore might plan a Whale Shark programm or other stuff and buy more Whale Sharks. Same goes to the Sharpfin mola, a similar story but the mola is dead. If it was only alive and sent to the aquarium we would have gotten it to today.
 
So hear me out. In sometime around the 1980s, a whale shark was found in Singapore waters, sadly it was killed. If they spared it and take it to the Van Kleef Aquarium, Singapore might plan a Whale Shark programm or other stuff and buy more Whale Sharks. Same goes to the Sharpfin mola, a similar story but the mola is dead. If it was only alive and sent to the aquarium we would have gotten it to today.
Ignoring the host of grammatical errors in your post, you're mistaking the forest for the trees. The problem is not just acquisition, if we did acquire any, the Van Kleef aquarium would not have space to house it anyway.
 
If you're interested, here's a non-exhaustive list of what aquariums have whale shark and tank sizes:
North America: Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta.
Tank size is 6.3 million gallons

Japan: Okinawa Chuarami Aquarium, tank size of 1,981,000 gallons
Osaka Aquarium: 1,427,000 gallons
 
Ignoring the host of grammatical errors in your post, you're mistaking the forest for the trees. The problem is not just acquisition, if we did acquire any, the Van Kleef aquarium would not have space to house it anyway.
I feel like a Whale Shark would have been larger than the Van Kleef Aquarium itself...

I never got to visit before it closed, but the impression I had was that it was a small aquarium.
 
Ignoring the host of grammatical errors in your post, you're mistaking the forest for the trees. The problem is not just acquisition, if we did acquire any, the Van Kleef aquarium would not have space to house it anyway.

Makes sense. Maybe one day in the future, we will have history repeating itself and we have the capacity to hold these two majestic creatures if both are juveniles.

I would also like to know why there are no more turtle exhibits in Sea aquarium unlike underwater world.
 
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So hear me out. In sometime around the 1980s, a whale shark was found in Singapore waters, sadly it was killed. If they spared it and take it to the Van Kleef Aquarium, Singapore might plan a Whale Shark programm or other stuff and buy more Whale Sharks. Same goes to the Sharpfin mola, a similar story but the mola is dead. If it was only alive and sent to the aquarium we would have gotten it to today.
What do you mean by 'it was found in Singapore waters'?
The sea regions around Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia is part of the natural range of the species.
Do you mean it was washed ashore?
Btw you cant just plan a whale enclosure in such a short period of time, and also I don't think they've ever been bred in captivity, so you would have to import wild caught specimens
 
What would happen once they were not juveniles?
The SEA Aquarium was originally going to house Whale Sharks but there was a big outcry when this was announced and the plan was quickly dropped. So, theoretically, the ocean tank there could house one - although I don't think the tank is actually big enough for the shark to look comfortable in there.

Mola could be kept in there, size-wise.
 
I think they can have at least one medium size one in the open ocean exhibit.

What do you mean by 'it was found in Singapore waters'?
The sea regions around Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia is part of the natural range of the species.
Do you mean it was washed ashore?
Btw you cant just plan a whale enclosure in such a short period of time, and also I don't think they've ever been bred in captivity, so you would have to import wild caught specimens

I know but it was spotted quite near Singapore.

I feel like a Whale Shark would have been larger than the Van Kleef Aquarium itself...

I never got to visit before it closed, but the impression I had was that it was a small aquarium.

I remember Van Kleef is just native freshwater and saltwater fishes of the Malayan archipelago and some non-native stuff and a sea turtle. Truth is way before Van Kleef's opening, almost all the fishes die and they have to spend money on it.

If you're interested, here's a non-exhaustive list of what aquariums have whale shark and tank sizes:
North America: Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta.
Tank size is 6.3 million gallons

Japan: Okinawa Chuarami Aquarium, tank size of 1,981,000 gallons
Osaka Aquarium: 1,427,000 gallons

I thought Sg aquarium is way bigger than the Chuarami aquarium
 
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When you said the whale shark was spotted in singapore but was killed, do you mean it was already dead when they saw it[ e.g. washed up on a beach] or was it spotted and then killed by humans
 
The SEA Aquarium is getting an expansion opening next year and will be renamed to the Singapore Oceanarium but I have no idea if there'll be new species added and there's not much info about the expansion for now. Ocean sunfish are difficult to keep healthily in captivity, they'll need a vertical tank and I don't think even the Open Ocean tank is high enough for them to live comfortably

I thought Sg aquarium is way bigger than the Chuarami aquarium
The Open Ocean tank is about 4 million gallons afaik, it alone is bigger than Okinawa
 
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