Wishes for Indonesian zoos & aquariums (Fantasy)

[Caribbean Flamingo]

I'm gonna post my wishlist for Indonesian zoos and aquarium in this thread. Others may also post here!

 

[Rizz Carlton]

An appropriate place for me and others to freely vent my frustration with the current state of this country's zoos and aquarias as well as for me being nitpicky with some stuffs. Thank you for creating this thread!

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I can start with big guns like Taman Safari Bogor, Jakarta Aquarium, or Jagat Satwa Nusantara, but of all things, Solo Safari has sometimes been in the back of my mine lately.

It's weird how small in scale this zoo is despite being practicaly one of the Taman Safari parks (Solo Safari has been referred as Taman Safari 5 in some instance). I guess due to the zoo only being rebranded this year and probably not as popular compared to Cisarua and Prigen, TSI doesn't seems to be in no rush developing the collections and exhibits there. I dare to say Solo Safari is basically a classier and dated version of Safari Beach Jateng (Taman Safari 4 in Batang).

For my wishlish specifically, I hope the park managed to display most, if not all, of the species they previously held prior during the Jurug Solo Zoo-era just to make the zoo much more interesting. Species I wish to see return from that era are the Tonkean macaque, black giant squirrel, brown booby, capybara, oriental darter, Javan muntjac, and crested goshawk. Two (sub)species that I really wish to see return the most are the Javan leopard and Sumatran tiger. The tigers shouldn't be hard as a tiger exhibit is also already present for the Sumatran tigers to replace the most-likely farm-bred "Bengal" tigers, TSI might be generous to sent two breeding pairs there. As for the leopards, it could be tricky to build an new exhibit there, setting up a breeding and care plan, and where to acquire them from. Cisarua might be willing to send some leopards, but I can also see them being sent to the zoo by the Natural Resource Agency (BKSDA) from the wild due to issues like health and risk of interactions with locals.

I wish I can do a more dedicated exhibit and layout designing of the zoo with the addition of this animals, but seeing the current exhibit and layout there, I feel like I'm won't be able to get my way around that as I feel like my plan would be radically more different than what we got. At the some point in the future, I'll try making a "what if" version of Solo Safari rather than my wish, but that's the big things that I wish Solo Safari will have in the future in some ways.

 

[Mossman Joe]

I can start with big guns like Taman Safari Bogor, Jakarta Aquarium, or Jagat Satwa Nusantara, but of all things, Solo Safari has sometimes been in the back of my mine lately.

In regards to the size, I don't think they can do much with it since it is ultimately a revitalization of Jurug Zoo which is already a relatively small park, especially compared to Gembira Loka. How they've used that space is more questionable, however. Did they really need to create ANOTHER pricy restaurant within zoo grounds? Did they need to design a haunted house, when that space could have been used for a reptile house, aquarium or a proper nocturnal house?

As for the collections, yes this is one of Solo Safari's big weaknesses. It doesn't really have anything that lets it stand out among other zoos within Java. I would love for many of the previously kept species to return, but remembering that most of them were old, lone individuals, I wouldn't mind new species to be added as well.

Keep in mind as well that from the start, Solo Safari was designed with no barred or wired cages in mind. This is why (except for the birds) when they need to have enclosed/semi-enclosed exhibits, they'll use glass instead, even though it can lead to horrible glare (as seen with the Javan Lutung exhibit)

I'll also try and elaborate my wishes for Solo Safari in the future, but one urgent thing I need fixed for ALL the Safari parks is.. to have more than 2 variations of the theme song. Let me tell you, spending the entire day at the zoo with it playing can drive you insane

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I'll also try and elaborate my wishes for Solo Safari in the future, but one urgent thing I need fixed for ALL the Safari parks is.. to have more than 2 variations of the theme song. Let me tell you, spending the entire day at the zoo with it playing can drive you insane

Hahaha I thought I was the only one noticing this. The old jingle was actually pretty decent in my opinion for a theme, it was only played in some instances in the park in Cisarua. Hoped it was played more often.

I actually first heard of the new theme song during my first visit to Solo Safari and later in Cisarua, which my first thought was that its not really good and gets really annoying with how repetitive it was.

But it does somewhat achieve its objective with how its able to burn in the back of the mind of visitors. So you can't imagine how mortified I was when I heard "LET'S GO, LET'S GO, TAMAN SAFARI" in a busy mall in Jakarta where Jakarta Aquarium is.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

In regards to the size, I don't think they can do much with it since it is ultimately a revitalization of Jurug Zoo which is already a relatively small park, especially compared to Gembira Loka. How they've used that space is more questionable, however. Did they really need to create ANOTHER pricy restaurant within zoo grounds? Did they need to design a haunted house, when that space could have been used for a reptile house, aquarium or a proper nocturnal house?

I forgot to put this one as well in the reply but I also do think that Solo Safari doesn't do enough in how they use the small space in term of collection and exhibit. So its bothering me that they will use the rest of the space, which in my opinion aren't small for some smaller exhibits, for a theme park.

Another issue is that I feel like the current layout they have for the animal section of the zoo make it kinda hard to add and develop some stuffs like new exhibits and better upgrades for say a new theming for some exhibits. Like, there's a very massive exhibit for only a pair of Asian small civet but also a very small exhibit for an anoa. I feel like the layout is a mess and I do agree that they don't do well enough with using the small land they have.

As for the collections, yes this is one of Solo Safari's big weaknesses. It doesn't really have anything that lets it stand out among other zoos within Java. I would love for many of the previously kept species to return, but remembering that most of them were old, lone individuals, I wouldn't mind new species to be added as well.

I'm actually not really good at deciding what new animals to add without proper theming, so that's why I left out that part.

For some animals, I feel its not really hard to acquire new groups of animals like the Sunda porcupines, Javan muntjac, black giant squirrels, and even capybaras for how available they are not only in zoos but also commercially. I guess this is also due to issues like land size, but a few species works well in a mixed exhibit. The Sunda porcupines for example can get along with the binturongs, which Taman Safari does actually have the same mix in their park in Cisarua.

Keep in mind as well that from the start, Solo Safari was designed with no barred or wired cages in mind. This is why (except for the birds) when they need to have enclosed/semi-enclosed exhibits, they'll use glass instead, even though it can lead to horrible glare (as seen with the Javan Lutung exhibit)

This is not really a issue for me at all. I prefer glassed exhibit more but glaring always make it incredibly hard to view and photographed the animals without getting way to close to the glass. So, I feel like adding some shelter might work to keep off sunlight from reaching some part of the glass, like how they did with most of the glassed exhibits in Faunaland.

 

[Fargusno]

I'm gonna post my wishlist for Indonesian zoos and aquarium in this thread. Others may also post here!

For current Indonesian aquarias, especially those that keep marine fishes:

BXsea:

• Make them realize that their tank isn't suitable for scalloped hammerhead sharks, and acquire bonnethead sharks to compensate their failure of keeping scalloped hammerheads. Though yeah, they can be only acquired from the United States AFAIK, IDK if aquaria or suppliers in nearby countries like Australia or China keeps them.
• Once they overgrow their tank, phase out the false gharials and turn the exhibit into a mini coastal terrarium with mudskippers and land hermit crabs.
• Phase out the small-clawed otters and turn its exhibit into an aquatic reptile exhibit for sailfin dragons and snake-necked turtles. Pig-nosed turtles may be added too.
• Phase out the Japanese spider crabs and replace them with spiny king crabs and giant isopods. Deep-sea fishes like Hilgendorf's saucord, popeye catalufa and flashlightfish may be added too.
• Turn the large reef fish exhibit on Hide and Seek into an exhibit for the giant Pacific octopus, as it may overgrow its exhibit. The former GPO exhibit can be used for nautilus.
• Phase out the albino pangasiuses and replace them with silver arowanas, as they can provide some show when fed (jumping out of water for food).
• Phase out the iguana and replace it with forest dragons or small varanids.
• Reintroduce the whitetip reef sharks into the main tank.
• Introduce Hemiscyllium freycineti to the shark pool in front of the Raja Ampat exhibit.
  
• Add more compatible sharks and rays to the main tank. I'd like to see zebra bullhead sharks and wobbegongs there. Mid-sized carcharinids like silvertip sharks or grey reef sharks are good too.

SeaWorld Ancol:

• Revamp their wetland exhibit into a huge full-blown mixed aquatic reptile exhibit with turtles and small crocodilians (like dwarf caimans or dwarf crocodiles) or compatible lizards (Chinese water dragons, caiman lizards or sailfin dragons). Basically turn it into "Innovation Aquarium: The Sequel".
• Phase out the albino pangasiuses and replace them with wallagos.
• Acquire compatible large carcharinid sharks for the SharkQuarium like sandbar shark, sicklefin lemon shark and limbatus blacktip shark. Re-aquiring scalloped hammerheads are welcomed too.
• Send all of the Asian arowanas to the rainforest tank and use its old exhibit for the electric eel.
• Reintroduce the sea turtles to the former dugong tank and send the rays from said exhibit to the main tank.
• Move the giant Pacific octopus to its old exhibit from 2011-2021 and move the large humphead wrasses to the main tank. Its former exhibit could be used to house chambered nautilus.
• Turn the current red emperor snapper exhibit into an exhibit for the seahorses. The former seahorse cylinder tank will be used for sea angels/clione.
  
• Turn the blacktip reef shark pool in the touch pool area into a tide pool exhibit with starfish, sea cucumbers, small fishes, horseshoe crabs and Melo melo snails. The small touch pools can be demolished, while the bamboo shark and small ray touch pool can be kept.
• Turn the Parni plaza area (the one with the Coelacanth museum and Parni's display in it) into an area for additional exhibits, preferably cylinder or rectangle tanks housing small marine life such as cuttlefish, reef lobsters, mudskippers and hermit crabs.

Jakarta Aquarium:

• Send the serval to TSI and use its exhibit for small crocodilians or semi-aquatic lizard. They could've kept the Sumbawa water monitor there to compensate their failure of obtaining the Komodo dragons.
  
• Send all of the mammals (except for the small-clawed otters and Prevost squirrels) to TSI, and turn the mammal complex on the 1st floor into open-top reptile exhibits. The former meerkat exhibit can be used as a North African desert exhibit with Egyptian tortoise and spiny-tailed lizards, the former binturong and capuchin exhibits can be used for tegus and red-footed tortoises.
  
• Reintroduce the wobbegong sharks, but house them in the ray tank.
• Revamp the freshwater section into two exhibits: the piranha exhibit and one long/huge megatank with the current predatory fishes. Larger ones may be sent to TSI's Lorong Reptil aquarium.
  
• Use the former porcupine fish and lionfish tank (that used to be the GPO and wobbegong exhibit) as an exhibit for Indonesian epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium freycineti and halmahera).
• Reintroduce the stag/dynastid beetles to the insect exhibit.
• Use the former snake-neck turtle exhibit as an exhibit for resident crocodile newts. The snake-neck turtles may be sent to TSI as they can overgrow their exhibit.
• Reintroduce the nautilus to the flashlight fish exhibit.

Ocean Dream Samudera:

• Turn the mermaid show tank into a tank for ocean sunfish or manatee.
• Introduce flamingos, storks, egrets and rare waterfowls like the one in Lembang Park & Zoo to the wetland/mangrove exhibit, or convert it into an exhibit for crocodiles, since the entrance has a Bremen Town Musician-looking statue featuring a hippo (presumably To Ming Tse), a crocodile and a sunbear. There used to be an ape (presumably a chimpanzee or an orangutan) and a sea lion statue on top of the sunbear, but already removed due to unknown reasons.

Dunia Air Tawar:

• Finish their rescaping and revitalization plan.
• Hoping for a North American exhibit with largemouth basses, alligator gars and channel catfish.
• Turn the paroon shark tank into an exhibit for paddlefish and sturgeons, as paddlefish require large bodies of water for them to grow big.
• More rare freshwater fishes seldomly seen in public aquaria, such as piraiba catfish and northern pike.

Bali Marine:

• Make a "public" section to the Varuna tank for their Bali Marine, as said tank housed bull sharks.
• Hoping for them to keep Steller's sea lions like what TSI did in the 2000s.
• A large reef tank displaying Bali's native marine fishes.

Other hopes and wishes for Indonesian aquaria:

• PIK gets a marine aquaria, probably a "JAQS 2" like how TSI has five safari parks (Cisarua, Prigen, Bali, Batang and Solo).

 

[Rizz Carlton]

BXsea:

• Make them realize that their tank isn't suitable for scalloped hammerhead sharks, and acquire bonnethead sharks to compensate their failure of keeping scalloped hammerheads. Though yeah, they can be only acquired from the United States AFAIK, IDK if aquaria or suppliers in nearby countries like Australia or China keeps them.
• Once they overgrow their tank, phase out the false gharials and turn the exhibit into a mini coastal terrarium with mudskippers and land hermit crabs.
• Phase out the small-clawed otters and turn its exhibit into an aquatic reptile exhibit for sailfin dragons and snake-necked turtles. Pig-nosed turtles may be added too.
• Phase out the Japanese spider crabs and replace them with spiny king crabs and giant isopods. Deep-sea fishes like Hilgendorf's saucord, popeye catalufa and flashlightfish may be added too.
• Turn the large reef fish exhibit on Hide and Seek into an exhibit for the giant Pacific octopus, as it may overgrow its exhibit. The former GPO exhibit can be used for nautilus.
• Phase out the albino pangasiuses and replace them with silver arowanas, as they can provide some show when fed (jumping out of water for food).
• Phase out the iguana and replace it with forest dragons or small varanids.
• Reintroduce the whitetip reef sharks into the main tank.
• Introduce Hemiscyllium freycineti to the shark pool in front of the Raja Ampat exhibit.
  
• Add more compatible sharks and rays to the main tank. I'd like to see zebra bullhead sharks and wobbegongs there. Mid-sized carcharinids like silvertip sharks or grey reef sharks are good too.

It was noted in Zootierliste that SEA aquarium in Singapore have bonnethead shark in their collection, no idea how they acquired them and if they will be willing and able to send some to Indonesia. Logistic and cost will be a massive issue for BXSea to acquire large fish from the Carribean Sea, importing reef fishes from there might be a lot cheaper since some of these fish do entered the Indonesian trade though not often (Like the Atlantic blue tang).

Would love to see the false gharial ended up in the future BSD City Zoo if they grew larger one day, due to proximity I feel like cooperation in some ways are very likely.

It sucks of how actually perfect the main freshwater tank are in BXSea without the addition of the alligator gars and farm-bred pangasius, I feel like a terrible mixed freshwater tank and freshwater fish keeping in Indonesian aquaria is unavoidable since it quite literally reflects the modern culture of fish keeping in Indonesia. The piraíba from the other tank might also fit well there in the future.

SeaWorld Ancol:

• Revamp their wetland exhibit into a huge full-blown mixed aquatic reptile exhibit with turtles and small crocodilians (like dwarf caimans or dwarf crocodiles) or compatible lizards (Chinese water dragons, caiman lizards or sailfin dragons). Basically turn it into "Innovation Aquarium: The Sequel".
• Phase out the albino pangasiuses and replace them with wallagos.
• Acquire compatible large carcharinid sharks for the SharkQuarium like sandbar shark, sicklefin lemon shark and limbatus blacktip shark. Re-aquiring scalloped hammerheads are welcomed too.
• Send all of the Asian arowanas to the rainforest tank and use its old exhibit for the electric eel.
• Reintroduce the sea turtles to the former dugong tank and send the rays from said exhibit to the main tank.
• Move the giant Pacific octopus to its old exhibit from 2011-2021 and move the large humphead wrasses to the main tank. Its former exhibit could be used to house chambered nautilus.
• Turn the current red emperor snapper exhibit into an exhibit for the seahorses. The former seahorse cylinder tank will be used for sea angels/clione.
  
• Turn the blacktip reef shark pool in the touch pool area into a tide pool exhibit with starfish, sea cucumbers, small fishes, horseshoe crabs and Melo melo snails. The small touch pools can be demolished, while the bamboo shark and small ray touch pool can be kept.
• Turn the Parni plaza area (the one with the Coelacanth museum and Parni's display in it) into an area for additional exhibits, preferably cylinder or rectangle tanks housing small marine life such as cuttlefish, reef lobsters, mudskippers and hermit crabs

I remember reading that the crocodiles were phased out from SeaWorld as it was during the heat of dispute between the previous owner of SeaWorld and Ancol Jaya, with the latter bringing up that SeaWorld weren't allowed to keep semi-aquatic animals or land animals. Now that Ancol have full ownership of SeaWorld, I feel like its much more likely for the saltwater crocodiles and false gharial to return in different way to Samudra Ancol instead. Though the complex will most likely stay the same, I do think its a good thing that it would make it possible for SeaWorld to have more variety in freshwater exhibits in that way.

• My wish is the first exhibit to be an Indonesian turtle exhibit with Amboina box turtle, Asian leaf turtle, and smaller native fishes like tiger barb. A pair of hydrosaurus and Papua turtles like the snake-necked turtles and red-bellied short-necked turtle might work.
• The second might stay as an mangrove exhibit with the addition of horseshoe crabs, mudskippers, hermit crabs, and even coconut crab if possible.
• To make it more stand out as opposed to another freshwater predator tank, the third exhibit should house yellow anaconda or if possible green anaconda instead, as well as yellow-spotted river turtles in the mix.

I can see where you're going with the last one, but we definitely need a more specific theming for this. I really hope the deep sea museum stay as it was, but I don't really mind seeing the main museum revamped. I thought of making an marine invertebrate corner as this area is adjacent to the Jellyfish Sphere, but SeaWorld have a history of not being able to keep their invertebrates for a long time, minus the spider crab and anemones. I also can see an actual deep sea corner with live specimen, so we can move the giant Pacific octopus and red king crab to this hypothetical exhibit, with returning species like the pineapple fish.

Jakarta Aquarium:

• Send the serval to TSI and use its exhibit for small crocodilians or semi-aquatic lizard. They could've kept the Sumbawa water monitor there to compensate their failure of obtaining the Komodo dragons.
  
• Send all of the mammals (except for the small-clawed otters and Prevost squirrels) to TSI, and turn the mammal complex on the 1st floor into open-top reptile exhibits. The former meerkat exhibit can be used as a North African desert exhibit with Egyptian tortoise and spiny-tailed lizards, the former binturong and capuchin exhibits can be used for tegus and red-footed tortoises.
  
• Reintroduce the wobbegong sharks, but house them in the ray tank.
• Revamp the freshwater section into two exhibits: the piranha exhibit and one long/huge megatank with the current predatory fishes. Larger ones may be sent to TSI's Lorong Reptil aquarium.
  
• Use the former porcupine fish and lionfish tank (that used to be the GPO and wobbegong exhibit) as an exhibit for Indonesian epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium freycineti and halmahera).
• Reintroduce the stag/dynastid beetles to the insect exhibit.
• Use the former snake-neck turtle exhibit as an exhibit for resident crocodile newts. The snake-neck turtles may be sent to TSI as they can overgrow their exhibit.
• Reintroduce the nautilus to the flashlight fish exhibit.

I feel like its unavoidable for Jakarta Aquarium to have land animals due to its ties with Taman Safari Indonesia. My alternative for the land animals issue of JAQ is to make their mammals (excluding otter, as well as some mammals that will be returned to Cisarua) owls, and some reptiles to be exclusive for a presentation or for interactions and will not have their own exhibit. Some species, like the meerkats, snake-necked turtle, and lemurs, should be sent to Cisarua. In that way, we can try making the first section a lot more stand out as possible as realisticly as possible.

• Jakarta Aquarium's has to be the best Asian small-clawed otter exhibit ever in Indonesian zoos and aquarias, no reason for any change at all.
• The former serval exhibit will be back into a two-striped water monitor exhibit, with the same pair in Cisarua returning to their original, larger exhibit along with several native turtles. The current fish stock will be removed, except for the osteochilus hasselti, and newer medium-sized native fishes will be added like channa pleurophthalma and barbonymus gonionotus
• The Prevost's squirrel and barn owl exhibit will be removed
• The former green iguana exhibit will house Merauke blue-tongued skink and blue tree monitor in a mixed terrarium
• Move the elephantnose fish from the blind cave fish tank to the former snake-necked turtle paludarium, with the addition an reedfish and Congo tetras
• The former lemur exhibit will return into a mangrove beach exhibit with coconut crabs, mudskippers, and other crab species
• The log-shaped exhibits will house several smaller to medium-sized reptile instead, like Russian tortoise and Indian star tortoise
• The former meerkat exhibit will return into a red tegu exhibit, with the addition of a pair of red-footed tortoises
• The former capuchin exhibit will house Forsten's tortoises and a pair of hydrosaurus celebensis
• The former binturong exhibit will house central bearded dragon and an shingleback
• The terrarium corner at the edge of the first section of the aquarium will exclusively houses insects. With the leopard gecko, emerald tree skink, and Australian green tree frog be replaced by African giant millipede, scolopendra subspinipes, and leaf insect respectively, with those herps now displayed for interactions similar to the current red-eyed crocodile skink and Madagascar hissing cockroach

I thought of making a large freshwater aquarium with pirarucu and some other South American fish in the place of the capybara exhibit. But I feel like it would fit housing only an pirarucu long-term along, mirroring the original former pirarucu in Cisarua. The already present South American fishes like pirapitinga, silver arowana, bigtooth river stingray, redtail catfish, barred sorubim, and maybe the payaras might be added if possible.

Revamping the three tanks in the freshwater section into one would kinda reinforce the habit of incredibly messy mixed freshwater tank. Plus, the addition of goliath tigerfish wouldn't end well and considering the vastly different care of each species that might not go well with others. So, for my idea, we sadly have to say goodbye to some species like the Siberian sturgeon. I feel like this is why limitations is good thing in a decision making for a species choice and theming.

• Now that there's a hypothetical pirarucu tank, most of the in the South American fish can be moved there. The larger tank with the waterfall will now house the already present goliath tigerfish and maybe some vittatus tigerfish, this way would make the section stand out even more with these never-before-seen concept in Indonesian aquaria. Other African fishes in the mix are bichirs (Endlicheri and delhezi), African arowana, and zebra tilapias
• The barb tanks will only have limited number of barbs and carps, no turtles, and the albino plecos and sturgeon being phased out. The Asian arowana will be moved here and a new group of smaller probarbus jullieni and several datnoides microlepis will be added, making the tank an Sunda island-themed tank
• Small fishes are grossly underrepresented in Indonesian aquaria aside from Dunia Air Tawar, sometimes being relegated into the same position as the Glofish™ and other farm-bred fish for an aquascape display instead. Which is why I decide in making the final tank into a heavily scaped Papuan-themed tank with several species of rainbowfish and gobies along with a pair of porochilus rendahli

Dunia Air Tawar:

• Finish their rescaping and revitalization plan.
• Hoping for a North American exhibit with largemouth basses, alligator gars and channel catfish.
• Turn the paroon shark tank into an exhibit for paddlefish and sturgeons, as paddlefish require large bodies of water for them to grow big.
• More rare freshwater fishes seldomly seen in public aquaria, such as piraiba catfish and northern pike.

Like I reported before after my visit in July, we'll be getting an sturgeon pond in the future in the former pirarucu pond, if we ever get paddlefish again it will probably be here.

I'm happy that they're slowly moving away from farm-bred fishes and start focusing on Indonesian native species. Not all seldomly seen species in public aquaria have to be the exotic one (Which in some cases were already widespread in the trade), some if not the majority of rarely seen species are natives. There's really not a lot of facilities here that displays bagarius lica, puntioplites bulu, and so much others. So, the fact that Jagat Satwa will start focusing their attention on native species are great. Plus, with this way, ordinary guests can gain a lot more interests towards the more threatened native species as aside to only caring for the already common and very popular exotic animals.

Though its possible that there will be another additional non-native tanks after fully finishing the scaping. South American, pirarucu, and African cichlid tanks are very likely, alligator gar is already popular so its possible that there will be a North American tank with the gars. Though I honestly can't see a mixed tank with the alligator gars considering the size of some tanks, but with Florida or longnose gar, its possible for the addition of largemouth bass and some sunfish as well.

Conclusion
I really hoped that the aquarias of Indonesia aren't homogenized and each of them need to have things that stand out for them. SeaWorld Ancol gave off a nostalgic memory for being the first aquaria in Indonesia and one of the most well-known site in Jakarta, meanwhile Jakarta Aquarium stands out with their ties to Taman Safari Indonesia and having land animals (To a mixed response), Ocean Dream Samudra with their dolphins, Dunia Air Tawar of course with their freshwater focus and formerly with their pirarucus, and BXSea I say is just a fancier aquarium.

In short, all the aquarias in Indonesia need to have one or two things that make it stands out from each other.

 

[Caribbean Flamingo]

Starting with Jakarta Aquarium, here are my wishlists for Jakarta Aquarium:

• Re-introduce the old logo, the current logo sucks in my opinion.
• Re-introduce the yellow-edged lyretail grouper, but house them in the southern sea.
• Revamp the fishes in all of the exhibit in freshwater fish zone except the piranha tank.
• Move the iguana to the binturong exhibit and an indian phyton will occupy the exhbit.
• Send the brown-tufted capuchins to TSI Bogor and emerald tree monitors will occupy the exhibit.
• The former GPO exhibit which currently houses lionfishes and porcupinefishes will be housing day octopus.
• Phased out the leopard gecko in the insect exhibit and replaced it with pacific blue-tail skink.

• Send the serval to TSI and use its exhibit for small crocodilians or semi-aquatic lizard. They could've kept the Sumbawa water monitor there to compensate their failure of obtaining the Komodo dragons.
  
• Send all of the mammals (except for the small-clawed otters and Prevost squirrels) to TSI, and turn the mammal complex on the 1st floor into open-top reptile exhibits. The former meerkat exhibit can be used as a North African desert exhibit with Egyptian tortoise and spiny-tailed lizards, the former binturong and capuchin exhibits can be used for tegus and red-footed tortoises.
  
• Reintroduce the wobbegong sharks, but house them in the ray tank.
• Reintroduce the stag/dynastid beetles to the insect exhibit.
• Use the former snake-neck turtle exhibit as an exhibit for resident crocodile newts. The snake-neck turtles may be sent to TSI as they can overgrow their exhibit.

I also had the same wishlist like this for Jakarta Aquarium.

 

[Mossman Joe]

Phase out the small-clawed otters and turn its exhibit into an aquatic reptile exhibit for sailfin dragons and snake-necked turtles. Pig-nosed turtles may be added too.

Send the serval to TSI and use its exhibit for small crocodilians or semi-aquatic lizard. They could've kept the Sumbawa water monitor there to compensate their failure of obtaining the Komodo dragons.
Send all of the mammals (except for the small-clawed otters and Prevost squirrels) to TSI, and turn the mammal complex on the 1st floor into open-top reptile exhibits. The former meerkat exhibit can be used as a North African desert exhibit with Egyptian tortoise and spiny-tailed lizards, the former binturong and capuchin exhibits can be used for tegus and red-footed tortoises.

As much as I hate JAQS' mammalian additions, including Holy the Harbor Seal, this is something I feel is very unlikely to pass. I don't think families and couples would be pleased to see the cute mammals replaced with generally less appealing reptiles, and it'd be harded to pass this to investors as a good idea. Like it or not, small mammals contribute a cuteness factor that draws general audiences in.

 

[Caribbean Flamingo]

As much as I hate JAQS' mammalian additions, including Holy the Harbor Seal, this is something I feel is very unlikely to pass. I don't think families and couples would be pleased to see the cute mammals replaced with generally less appealing reptiles, and it'd be harded to pass this to investors as a good idea. Like it or not, small mammals contribute a cuteness factor that draws general audiences in.

I don't think so. Couples and families will still go to JAQ even though JAQ had no land mammals in their collection. I believe that most people went to JAQ to see fishes not land mammals and they will prefer to go to TSI instead of JAQ to see land mammals.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I don't think so. Couples and families will still go to JAQ even though JAQ had no land mammals in their collection. I believe that most people went to JAQ to see fishes not land mammals and they will prefer to go to TSI instead of JAQ to see land mammals.

Your first point is kinda right, with or without mammals, JAQ would still strive in some ways since aquarium is an aquarium and that would still be appealing for Jakartans in particular (Regardless of the fact that there's already four aquarium in and around the city). But, the fact that the mammals were already way to engrained in the entire branding of Jakarta Aquarium also as an urban safari makes it very difficult to just let them pass. People already know and associate Jakarta Aquarium as the aquarium that have mammals, which is what makes it very appealing for ordinary guests especially families and couples who were there just to have fun. If JAQ one day for some reason announce they will phase out the mammals to focus on the fishes, reptiles, and aquatic life in general, people would noticed that and be less appealed to go there. Yes, there would still be many Jakartans visiting the aquarium just for the tanks, but the numbers I feel would decreased from the current massive numbers. Again, this went along with my belief that each aquarias should something that make them stand out, JAQ and BXSea essentialy would be the same place except the latter have a tunnel aquarium.

Like @Mossman Joe said, you kinda have to consider the investors too, which have a lot say in the management of zoos and aquarias like JAQ. The investors would obviously go on with any plans that will give maximum profit. The increasingly popular mammals and interactions with them would obviously bring more money than some fishes that ordinary guests barely even know exist.

One of the reason why I'm replying to your comment is asking where do you based this last argument from?

I believe that most people went to JAQ to see fishes not land mammals and they will prefer to go to TSI instead of JAQ to see land mammals.

There's a lot of points to contradict this, including my prior one, but one thing you also need to consider is practicality from people. Jakarta Aquarium is located in a mall within a developed city, making it very accesible to a lot of Jakartans and others visiting the city with the only need is the essentials budgets for tickets and other stuffs like merchandise or FnB. Not a lot of people can go to Taman Safari Bogor easily due to stuffs that include locations and other stuffs (Unless you have cars, private driver, or have the budget to spare for public transportations its not practical).

Within Jakarta itself, there's already a lot of zoos and aquarias. But, what make Jakarta Aquarium appealing is again practicality. Ragunan Zoo is popular but its a huge park and getting from one spot to another would be exhausting especially outdoor. Same thing goes for Ancol Dreamland and Taman Mini Indonesia. Jakarta Aquarium being located indoor and only having one main site makes it very appealing since, frankly, some people just want to have fun in a easier and less energy and money-draining way.

Conclusion
95% of guests in Indonesian zoos and aquarias aren't ZooChatters, they go to places like JAQ to get excited for the popular animals that they already recognized and interact with them, not seeking say pomadasys kaakan that not even a lot of ZooChatters barely knew existed. This I agree sadly resulted in the state of this country's zoos and aquarias, but these are also a thing that need to be considered when analyzing this kind of stuff to know the full and proper context.

 

[Mossman Joe]

I believe that most people went to JAQ to see fishes not land mammals and they will prefer to go to TSI instead of JAQ to see land mammals.

You make a good point, though as @Rizz Carlton puts it, the plethora of non-fish animals does make JAQS stand out from its aquarium contemporaries. He also makes lots of similar points to what I was about to elaborate, including about how accessible JAQS is to Jakarta/Tangerang residents compared to Taman Safari Bogor, allowing visitors to spend a couple of hours within the city instead of half a day driving to Bogor.

Thinking about it again, I don't see a problem with phasing out the mammals that are very out of place in aquariums, such as the meerkats and serval and replace them with them with more theme-appropriate species such as a fishing cat in place of a serval, which is still a mammal and presumably carries some of the "gemoy" appeal that the serval had, but is smaller and fits more with the aquatic theme. Imo they could keep the ASCOs, Capybaras and dare I say, the Binturongs due to their river/jungle connection and relatively small space requirements.

 

[Caribbean Flamingo]

• Revamp the fishes in all of the exhibit in freshwater fish zone except the piranha tank.

Waterfall Basin

• Silver arowana
• Tinfoil barb
• Florida gar
• Bigtooth river stingray
• Giant sword minnow
• Hampala barb
• Bala shark
• Oscar
• Jaguar cichlid
• Apogon catfish

Sturgeon Tank → Hardscape Tank

• Altum angelfish
• Fire eel
• Honey gourami
• Brushmouth pleco (L144)
• Peter's elephantnose fish

Tigerfish Tank → African Cichlid Tank

• Electric yellow cichlid
• Demanson's cichlid
• Giraffe hap
• Yellow-tail acei
• Blue dolphin cichlid
• Golden mbuna

 

[Rizz Carlton]

Kampung Papua in Taman Safari Bogor is in my opinion one of the park's least popular exhibit, but to me its a interesting concept and have a lot of potential. An specific geography-based theme exhibit is my favorite, especially involving islands like Papua as seen in Cisarua. I wish we can see Kampung Papua as an proper Papua-based exhibit, as currently it seems like the Papua-theming of the exhibit revolved around the southern cassowary, several wallabies, and occasionaly grizzled tree-kangaroo more, with other exhibits housing several species that could've been housed in other exhibits, like the non-Papuan alligator snapping tortoise.

Here is my version of Kampung Papua:

• The current exhibit for a pair of southern cassowary is decent and also somewhat the main exhibit of Kampung Papua. It was formerly a Komodo dragon exhibit before the Komodo Dragon Island was built in early 2010's, making it a bit unfitting for the cassowaries in regard to decoration and foliage (For some reason barely unchanged from when the dragons were still in this exhibit). Though I can see the cassowary stay with revamping the exhibit to be more fitting, I do wish to see something else in this rather nice exhibit. Though honestly a very wishful thinking, I can see this exhibit housing several New Guinea singing dogs, of course with safety measures to prevent people and things from falling over to the exhibit (Like the wires around the fences in the white tiger exhibit in Cisarua's Baby Zoo). This dogs are present in several US zoos that if Cisarua interested in might be able to work with, as opposed with trying to sourcing them locally (Which may involve shady business).
• The two aviaries do houses Papuan birds (Blyth's hornbill and palm cockatoo) and black-backed swamphen, but I feel like adding birds-of-paradise would be more fitting and would make Kampung Papua even stands out, being regarded as one of the natural icons of Papua. Cisarua already held three species; lesser (Minor and finschi), red, and twelve-wired bird-of-paradise. I feel like the aviaries should hold the twelve-wired bird-of-paradise and the finschi lesser bird-of-paradise in the aviaries. Adding other passerines or pigeons could be risky, species like the masked lapwing and pied stilt might work as they dwell in the bottom of the aviaries, reducing risk of agression by the birds-of-paradise and to make the aviaries more attractive.
• The large pond in Kampung Papua held several non-Papuan species like the black swan, Amboina box turtle, and the hidden Alligator snapping turtle. Previously, this exhibit held several young saltwater crocodiles, which does present in the island of Papua. But, since there are already six salties exhibit in Cisarua (All four exhibits in "Crocodile Park" held salties of various sizes), the New Guinea crocodile would be even more fitting for Kampung Papua. With younger crocodiles, it would be possible to add several Papuan turtles and fishes. Cisarua already held pig-nosed turtle, elseya branderhorsti (Transferred from Royal Safari Garden resort), and elseya novaeguinae, either of the elseyas and the pig-nosed turtle could be displayed here along with a group of red-bellied short-necked turtle and a pair of northern snake-necked turtle (Transferred from Jakarta Aquarium). More water could be filled to make a underwater view section in the already present underground section of Kampung Papua, where it would be possible to see the pig-nosed turtle and various species of rainbowfishes more clearly.
• The main macropod exhibit is often very empty, with only several agile wallabies and occasionaly dusky pademelon and grizzled tree-kangaroo. I'll like to see this exhibit to house a large mix of macropod, each species in a small group, which include all three said macropods and a couple of white-striped dorcopsis from the other exhibit in the mix.
• The two nocturnal exhibits is one of the interesting part of Kampung Papua, currently housing a mix exhibit with sugar glider and four-toed hedgehog as well as one housing Javan mongoose. In my pitch, the sugar glider obviously would stay with the hedgehogs being replaced by an Irian Jaya blue-tongued skink from the Reptile Tunnel. The mongoose exhibit will see an common spotted cuscus returning to this exhibit (As previously does prior to 2019). If possible, I do wish to see some of the Raffray's bandicoot being transferred from Prigen for display in Cisarua. Maybe one or two could be housed together with the cuscus, as the exhibit is actually quite big and the cuscus hopefully prefer staying above to minimized interaction with the bandicoots.
• Aside from a glassed below view for the pond and several exhibits, the undergound area of Kampung Papua only have several stuffed wallabies and birds-of-paradise. To make it more interesting, I consider adding multiple terrariums similar to the indoor wombat cave in Prigen. There will be five planted terrarium ranging from small to large. Two small terrariums houses red-eyed crocodile skink and emerald tree skink, the third medium-sized terrarium houses green tree python, two larger terrarium houses an Darwin carpet python and a pair of blue tree monitor.
• The last exhibit is a quite large, unsigned exhibit that houses several dorcopsis. I assume this is a temporary holding cage, but the dorcopsis has been there for a long time. As the dorcopsis is moved to the main macropod exhibit, this exhibit will be where the cassowaries housed in, as this exhibit do actually houses the southern cassowaries when the Komodo dragons were still in their future exhibit and since I feel like cassowaries is kind of a must in Papua-based exhibit (Being as popular as the birds-of-paradise in being the icon of the island). Though, I see the northern cassowary to be more fitting as they're exclusively from that island (Unlike the southern species that can be found in the Mollucas and northern Australia).

These are my wish for Kampung Papua in the future, despite being flawed, its still one of my favorite exhibits in Taman Safari Bogor. I'll try writing my wishes and ideas for other least popular exhibits (The Asian forest tortoise exhibit and the meerkat-mandrill-proboscis monkey-Japanese macaque complex are in my mind) in the next few days.

 

[Mossman Joe]

Aside from a glassed below view for the pond and several exhibits, the undergound area of Kampung Papua only have several stuffed wallabies and birds-of-paradise. To make it more interesting, I consider adding multiple terrariums similar to the indoor wombat cave in Prigen. There will be five planted terrarium ranging from small to large. Two small terrariums houses red-eyed crocodile skink and emerald tree skink, the third medium-sized terrarium houses green tree python, two larger terrarium houses an Darwin carpet python and a pair of blue tree monitor.

I don't think Blue tree monitors occur in New Guinea, though instead you could add in Frilled Lizards or one of the Hypsilurus species found in Taman Mini.

Deoending on how many terrariums you could fit in, this would be an excellent opportunity to introduce a few Burton's Legless Lizards, a unique Papuan species that's made its way into the Indonesian market, only made difficult by its lizard-only diet

 

[Fargusno]

Kampung Papua in Taman Safari Bogor is in my opinion one of the park's least popular exhibit, but to me its a interesting concept and have a lot of potential. An specific geography-based theme exhibit is my favorite, especially involving islands like Papua as seen in Cisarua. I wish we can see Kampung Papua as an proper Papua-based exhibit, as currently it seems like the Papua-theming of the exhibit revolved around the southern cassowary, several wallabies, and occasionaly grizzled tree-kangaroo more, with other exhibits housing several species that could've been housed in other exhibits, like the non-Papuan alligator snapping tortoise.

Here is my version of Kampung Papua:

• The current exhibit for a pair of southern cassowary is decent and also somewhat the main exhibit of Kampung Papua. It was formerly a Komodo dragon exhibit before the Komodo Dragon Island was built in early 2010's, making it a bit unfitting for the cassowaries in regard to decoration and foliage (For some reason barely unchanged from when the dragons were still in this exhibit). Though I can see the cassowary stay with revamping the exhibit to be more fitting, I do wish to see something else in this rather nice exhibit. Though honestly a very wishful thinking, I can see this exhibit housing several New Guinea singing dogs, of course with safety measures to prevent people and things from falling over to the exhibit (Like the wires around the fences in the white tiger exhibit in Cisarua's Baby Zoo). This dogs are present in several US zoos that if Cisarua interested in might be able to work with, as opposed with trying to sourcing them locally (Which may involve shady business).
• The two aviaries do houses Papuan birds (Blyth's hornbill and palm cockatoo) and black-backed swamphen, but I feel like adding birds-of-paradise would be more fitting and would make Kampung Papua even stands out, being regarded as one of the natural icons of Papua. Cisarua already held three species; lesser (Minor and finschi), red, and twelve-wired bird-of-paradise. I feel like the aviaries should hold the twelve-wired bird-of-paradise and the finschi lesser bird-of-paradise in the aviaries. Adding other passerines or pigeons could be risky, species like the masked lapwing and pied stilt might work as they dwell in the bottom of the aviaries, reducing risk of agression by the birds-of-paradise and to make the aviaries more attractive.
• The large pond in Kampung Papua held several non-Papuan species like the black swan, Amboina box turtle, and the hidden Alligator snapping turtle. Previously, this exhibit held several young saltwater crocodiles, which does present in the island of Papua. But, since there are already six salties exhibit in Cisarua (All four exhibits in "Crocodile Park" held salties of various sizes), the New Guinea crocodile would be even more fitting for Kampung Papua. With younger crocodiles, it would be possible to add several Papuan turtles and fishes. Cisarua already held pig-nosed turtle, elseya branderhorsti (Transferred from Royal Safari Garden resort), and elseya novaeguinae, either of the elseyas and the pig-nosed turtle could be displayed here along with a group of red-bellied short-necked turtle and a pair of northern snake-necked turtle (Transferred from Jakarta Aquarium). More water could be filled to make a underwater view section in the already present underground section of Kampung Papua, where it would be possible to see the pig-nosed turtle and various species of rainbowfishes more clearly.
• The main macropod exhibit is often very empty, with only several agile wallabies and occasionaly dusky pademelon and grizzled tree-kangaroo. I'll like to see this exhibit to house a large mix of macropod, each species in a small group, which include all three said macropods and a couple of white-striped dorcopsis from the other exhibit in the mix.
• The two nocturnal exhibits is one of the interesting part of Kampung Papua, currently housing a mix exhibit with sugar glider and four-toed hedgehog as well as one housing Javan mongoose. In my pitch, the sugar glider obviously would stay with the hedgehogs being replaced by an Irian Jaya blue-tongued skink from the Reptile Tunnel. The mongoose exhibit will see an common spotted cuscus returning to this exhibit (As previously does prior to 2019). If possible, I do wish to see some of the Raffray's bandicoot being transferred from Prigen for display in Cisarua. Maybe one or two could be housed together with the cuscus, as the exhibit is actually quite big and the cuscus hopefully prefer staying above to minimized interaction with the bandicoots.
• Aside from a glassed below view for the pond and several exhibits, the undergound area of Kampung Papua only have several stuffed wallabies and birds-of-paradise. To make it more interesting, I consider adding multiple terrariums similar to the indoor wombat cave in Prigen. There will be five planted terrarium ranging from small to large. Two small terrariums houses red-eyed crocodile skink and emerald tree skink, the third medium-sized terrarium houses green tree python, two larger terrarium houses an Darwin carpet python and a pair of blue tree monitor.
• The last exhibit is a quite large, unsigned exhibit that houses several dorcopsis. I assume this is a temporary holding cage, but the dorcopsis has been there for a long time. As the dorcopsis is moved to the main macropod exhibit, this exhibit will be where the cassowaries housed in, as this exhibit do actually houses the southern cassowaries when the Komodo dragons were still in their future exhibit and since I feel like cassowaries is kind of a must in Papua-based exhibit (Being as popular as the birds-of-paradise in being the icon of the island). Though, I see the northern cassowary to be more fitting as they're exclusively from that island (Unlike the southern species that can be found in the Mollucas and northern Australia).

These are my wish for Kampung Papua in the future, despite being flawed, its still one of my favorite exhibits in Taman Safari Bogor. I'll try writing my wishes and ideas for other least popular exhibits (The Asian forest tortoise exhibit and the meerkat-mandrill-proboscis monkey-Japanese macaque complex are in my mind) in the next few days.

And now, my suggestion for the Crocodile Park:

• Turn it into an exhibit for five different species of crocodiles that represents four different continents: Asia (False Gharial), Oceania (Saltwater Crocodile), Africa (Dwarf Crocodile), South America (Spectacled Caiman) and North America (American Alligator).
• As for Chinese Alligator, it might be better for the Panda Palace as it came from China.
• The rest of the Salties may be phased out and kept off-display.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

I don't think Blue tree monitors occur in New Guinea

The species occurred in the island of Batanta off the coast of the main island, so it kinda count? I try to consider the species that are already available in Cisarua, had been kept there before, and that were already available in zoos and private farm or suppliers. Varanus prasinus or the emerald tree monitor are from the main island and Cisarua already held this species so it could be a better replacement maybe. I kind of consider the frilled lizard as well, despite being associated more with Australia, but I aware the underground area weren't big, so it could fit only smaller terrariums but not an entire enclosure. Which is why I left out the lophosaurus and hypsilurus long-term.

I do like the idea of having assorted smaller reptiles terrarium, similar to the terrariums in Bali Bird Park. The Burton's legless lizard might be perfect here, along with lined gecko and the smaller reptiles I stated before.

 

[Rizz Carlton]

As for Chinese Alligator, it might be better for the Panda Palace as it came from China

I feel like Cisarua should be able to get a hand of this species if they consider them in the future, maybe from Singapore if they had bred there. I'm not sure where it would be housed within the Panda Palace. Definitely very unlikely to demolish the indoor giant panda exhibits to make way for less popular species or anywhere within the indoor section without the opinions of the Chinese investors.

There are some small patch of land across the small aviary housing golden pheasants that might be able to be build an Chinese alligator exhibit that I imagined should be inspired with the false gharial exhibit in River Wonders with a underwater view and land area that are exposed by sunlight. A shelter above should be build as well to avoid glaring.

The species isn't massive for a crocodilian, so these hypothetical exhibit should be able to held a couple, some turtles like Chinese softshell turtle and/or Chinese pond turtle might work.

 

[Fargusno]

I feel like Cisarua should be able to get a hand of this species if they consider them in the future, maybe from Singapore if they had bred there. I'm not sure where it would be housed within the Panda Palace. Definitely very unlikely to demolish the indoor giant panda exhibits to make way for less popular species or anywhere within the indoor section without the opinions of the Chinese investors.

There are some small patch of land across the small aviary housing golden pheasants that might be able to be build an Chinese alligator exhibit that I imagined should be inspired with the false gharial exhibit in River Wonders with a underwater view and land area that are exposed by sunlight. A shelter above should be build as well to avoid glaring.

The species isn't massive for a crocodilian, so these hypothetical exhibit should be able to held a couple, some turtles like Chinese softshell turtle and/or Chinese pond turtle might work.

Another idea:

• Convert the Lorong Reptil aquarium into a mixed exhibit for Chinese alligators or spectacled caimans and Asian turtles such as the zoo's resident Malaysian giant turtles and pignose turtles.
• Phase out the dolphins and convert the former swimming with dolphin exhibit into an exhibit for Amazonian fishes. The former dolphin show exhibit could be converted into a mixed exhibit for West Indian manatees, cormorants and pelicans, with feeding shows for both animals like Singapore Zoo's old Splash Safari show.