Aquaria KLCC Kuala Lumpur aquarium

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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I took this off my blogsite, from when I was over in Asia last year, just for anyone who's interested:

The aquarium is just called Aquaria. Admission is 38 Ringgits for foreigners but as it happened they were having a half-price special for people born in August, which I was, and I had my passport because I'd been changing the travellers cheques, so I got in for 19 Ringgits.The aquarium is fantastic, and very very flash. There are huge flat-screens everywhere popping up 'did you know?' messages and interesting information about aquatic life, and there are lots of interactive terminals. All the tanks are really snazzy, the first ones containing genetically-engineered glow-in-the-dark ricefish; electric fish (a mix of elephant-noses, electric cats, aba-aba, and royal knifefish, although the last ones aren't electric so I think they got confused with New World knifefish); and primitive fish (a mix of freshwater stingrays, gars, bichirs and paddlefish). Then there's a row of tanks for baby hawksbill and green turtles which are being grown up for release. There is a fantastic hall of reptile exhibits, the prime specimen for me being the Malaysian giant frog Rana blythii; it was easily as big as a fat guinea-pig! Then there's a flooded forest area, with a huge cylinder tank for Asian fish (tinfoil barbs, clown knives, and giant gouramis). The tank must be 20 ft high, and at the base are pools for more fish and softshell turtles, including a 1.59m 136kg striped softshell Chitra chitra. That was pretty awesome. After that was the marine tanks. The tunnel is very nice, way way way nicer than Singapore's one. After that is a sort of discovery area with an 8ft fluorescing model cuttlefish and cylinder tanks with various bits and bobs, such as nautilus and (star of my visit) pineapple fish. They are so incredible!

What can I say against the aquarium? Well, not much. There was an unfortunate snake-posing area for getting your photo taken with a python, and there was advertising everywhere (like the huge "MARES just add water" billboards in the tunnel tank), and there were Malaysian flags everywhere which was kind of bizarre. They weren't on the walls, they were in the exhibits: in the tanks, even in strings across the marmoset enclosure. Just strange. And there were security guards all over the show. I don't know what they were there for, because they weren't stopping people taking flash photos or banging on the glass
 
aquaria klcc

The aquarium is just called Aquaria. Admission is 38 Ringgits for foreigners but as it happened they were having a half-price special for people born in August, which I was, and I had my passport because I'd been changing the travellers cheques, so I got in for 19 Ringgits.
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Malaysia's Independence day is on Aug 31st... hence the whole month was dedicated to people born in August hence the little flags

The aquarium is fantastic, and very very flash. There are huge flat-screens everywhere popping up 'did you know?' messages and interesting information about aquatic life, and there are lots of interactive terminals.
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Personally I think aquariums are all about the live displays not the virtual stuff... whatever paddles your canoe I guess:)

All the tanks are really snazzy, the first ones containing genetically-engineered glow-in-the-dark ricefish; electric fish (a mix of elephant-noses, electric cats, aba-aba, and royal knifefish, although the last ones aren't electric so I think they got confused with New World knifefish)
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I think that the tank is not big enough to for the exhibits to handle each others electrical space... hence the frequent mortalities... and yes the dude that put in the knifefish was clueless LOL

There is a fantastic hall of reptile exhibits, the prime specimen for me being the Malaysian giant frog Rana blythii; it was easily as big as a fat guinea-pig!
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I personally collected that specimen on a herping trip in cameron highlands

Then there's a flooded forest area, with a huge cylinder tank for Asian fish (tinfoil barbs, clown knives, and giant gouramis). The tank must be 20 ft high, and at the base are pools for more fish and softshell turtles, including a 1.59m 136kg striped softshell Chitra chitra. That was pretty awesome.
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I know awesome isn't she... I found her at Endau Rompin... We have not come across any other specimen remotely that big till date... the literature and chelonian experts we had over never knew chitras could get that big as well... I found her by accident and she was too prized an animal to let the local aboriginals cook up so i brought her back. The pool you saw her in is too deep a display for her... I wanted to built a new display solely for her but the directors did not have the space or the :(:(budget... I struggled for 6 months de-parasite and de-worm her and to get her feeding... and she's been on display in that too deep pool for over 3 years... about 3 months after I resigned from aquaria, the new clueless curator that took over instructed all the sand substrate to be removed despite protests from the biologists and aquarists... they lost Manu the chitra 3 months after the sand removal... she succumbed from a fungal infection on her carapace... :mad:

After that was the marine tanks. The tunnel is very nice, way way way nicer than Singapore's one. After that is a sort of discovery area with an 8ft fluorescing model cuttlefish and cylinder tanks with various bits and bobs, such as nautilus and (star of my visit) pineapple fish. They are so incredible!
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I wanted sea cliones and and jellyfish too at that time but.... same story

What can I say against the aquarium? Well, not much. There was an unfortunate snake-posing area for getting your photo taken with a python,
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That makes 1k USD a day so it's not so unfortunate...

and there was advertising everywhere (like the huge "MARES just add water" billboards in the tunnel tank),
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They sponsor up to 10K USD of diving equipment a year

and there were Malaysian flags everywhere which was kind of bizarre. They weren't on the walls, they were in the exhibits: in the tanks, even in strings across the marmoset enclosure.
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it sucks... they over did it on the independence day thing... It was lucky we did not lose any animals that had gotten entangled with the strings that held it together...

Just strange. And there were security guards all over the show. I don't know what they were there for, because they weren't stopping people taking flash photos or banging on the glass
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The guards are there to salute the directors miltary style so they get an ego trip as they walk by and to snitch on curators that smuggle beer into the aquaria after hours as that is the only time serious repair works can be done:o
 
38 RM is quite a large amount for admission into an aquarium. In comparision to aus dollar it is around 2.4 now I think. Sounds very interesting though, next time when I get to go back to Malaysia I must ask my parents if we could go there.
 
nice to have you on board sw_cherating! The post I made was just taken from a blog I wrote before I was a member on here, so its not a great piece of review writing :)
I may get to return to the KL aquarium in a few months, and if so I will write a better one then.
So sad to hear about the stupid avoidable death of the Chitra! That sucks.

@dragon(ele)nerd, the aquarium is definitely worth 38 Ringgits in my opinion.
(For the benefit of other readers, 38 Ringgits is equal to about NZ$19 or roughly 6 UK pounds)
 
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well Malaysia's waters espicially off sabah have amazing wildlife do they have Manta Rays?
 
yes some of the dive sites off Sabah are well-known for mantas
(or conversely, if you mean "does the aquarium have mantas", then no it doesn't)
 
yeah sorry that's what I meant, is there any aquarium in the world that have Manta Rays? If so which ones?
 
The Oceanarium Lisbon do also have Manta Rays, and of course the Churaumi Aquarium in japan, they have bred Manta rays sucessfully last year.

@Chlidonias. Do the Aquarium Kuala Lumpur has a guidebook ? And how old is the aquarium, is it a new one ?
 
Zebraduiker said:
The Oceanarium Lisbon do also have Manta Rays, and of course the Churaumi Aquarium in japan, they have bred Manta rays sucessfully last year.

@Chlidonias. Do the Aquarium Kuala Lumpur has a guidebook ? And how old is the aquarium, is it a new one ?
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It opened in 2006... nope no guide book....
 
going off-topic for a minute, but sw_cherating do you know if the big new aquarium in Kota Kinabalu is open yet?
 
There's 2 the 1st is aquatica and i do not have any dealings with them and i do not think they are opened yet. the second is 1 borneo. they have asked me to supply sharks to them but they keep delaying the shipment date so I had to sell the sharks to someone else first. I do not think they are open yet as well. As far as I know the whole team there has not worked in a public aquarium before.
 
return visit November 2009

The first part of the aquarium has changed quite a bit from my last visit in 2006, notably the very first tank which used to hold a revolving swirl of rays now holds a tumbling ball of maybe 200 piranhas. There are now separate tanks for various small electric fish ("the Electric Zone") while the tanks that used to be nice planted exhibits for small electric and "primitive" fish now house the larger versions they have become although some are looking decidedly the worse for wear. The tanks for baby sea turtles are gone, replaced by others for lizards and scorpions. The reptile/invertebrate section is much the same, with the same miniscule wall-tanks. The huge Blyth's frog that was such an attraction for me last time has gone, but there is a big river toad instead. Just along from these is a single coati in a sad little cage (formerly housing marmosets). The rest of the aquarium is pretty much the same.

One thing that really stood out though which ticked me off no end, was that there is only one route through the aquarium. Electric fish, reptiles, "rainforest", ocean tank, other marinefish, and then there's a one-way escalator which when you go up takes you into the giftshop and exit and there's no way back in. I wanted to see the 4pm piranha feeding so, seeing as how I'd just come out, figured I should be able to show my receipt to get back in the entrance to see it. But no, it turned out that because I'd come in at 2.53pm and it was now about 3.45pm I couldn't come back in because I'D BEEN IN THE AQUARIUM FOR TOO LONG!!!! Fortunately the piranha tank is right at the entrance so I just stood by the gate and watched from there, but a pretty poor show of affairs I thought.

I'll upload photos once home again
 
2013

Noted this is quite an old thread so I thought I would do an update on the exhibits, as I visited today.

Firstly this facility is very much in the centre of KL, in the basement of the Convention Centre, just around the corner from the twin towers.

Admission is now 50r for non-Malaysians, which is about $18 Australian or so.

First exhibit after passing through the turnstiles is a tank of piranha, then touch pools with seastars, horseshoe crabs etc, then electric eel, followed by smaller tanks for other electric fish.

Next is an enclosure for Coypu, followed by an enclosure for small-clawed otters. A few display cases for pinned insects is followed by a corridor with a wide variety of reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates as well as some fish. The theme is "Jewels of the Jungle" and while many are from Malaysia, there is a fair sprinkling from other parts of the world too.

Next is a large green iguana and a display of frogs in different stages of development from tadpole on.

Proceeding downstairs the path loops around a large exhibit representing the Malaysian Flooded Forest and a smaller one for the Amazon. Several smaller exhibits followed themed towards the coastal zone.

Moving on towards the Oceanarium I passed an exhibit which contained the largest bluetounged lizard I have ever seen. You view the Oceanarium by moving through an acrylic tube. There is a moving walkway but it is possible to hop off the walkway if you wanted to. From my limited knowledge of fish most seemed to be reef species and there were also a couple of sea turtles in there as well.

Leaving the Oceanarium I passed a few craft stalls then into an area with smaller tanks in an area named "Weird and Wonderful", including a tank for chambered nautilus. Next were tanks for moon jellies, and seahorses, as well as a large reef tank for smaller reef fish. Last was a tank for garden eels, something I had never seen before and possibly a highlight.

Next up into a large souvenir shop and out.

Overall I thought while not the worlds largest aquarium a diverse collection with some very interesting species, plus plenty of graphics and educational material. Good to see quite a push against shark fin and for sustainable fishing. Well worth a visit if you have a couple of hours while visiting KL.
 
I always like updates :)

Next is an enclosure for Coypu, followed by an enclosure for small-clawed otters. A few display cases for pinned insects is followed by a corridor with a wide variety of reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates as well as some fish. The theme is "Jewels of the Jungle" and while many are from Malaysia, there is a fair sprinkling from other parts of the world too.
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those enclosures for coypu and otters can't be too big, from memory of that area. Is the horrible "wall of tiny boxes" still there?


...the largest bluetounged lizard I have ever seen.
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this might have been a Tiliqua gigas from New Guinea. They get up to two foot long, total length.


Last was a tank for garden eels, something I had never seen before and possibly a highlight.
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they are brilliant fish aren't they? When I went to Siam Ocean World in Bangkok in 2006, the very first tank was for garden eels. I always wonder how difficult they are to keep alive though.
 
Time for another update. This was probably my fifth visit to KL, not really sure why I didn't go to Aquaria before. I guess it sort of became a habit.

Admission is now 75 Ringgit for non-Malaysians. See my thoughts at the end as to whether its worth it.

The initial tank, piranha with human skeleton, is a bit classless, but following this is a nice corridor with lots of small exhibits. Some are terrariums, but most are little aquariums with tetras and so on. I really liked these.

The otter and coypu exhibits now only hold otters, so although it's still the low point it's only half as bad as it was before.

Going downstairs, you are greeted with what is one of the coolest tanks I've actually ever seen. In an Amazon-themed area, there is one relatively shallow tank with mock-rock sides. Rising out of this, enclosed in a cylindrical tank, is a fake tree all the way to the ceiling. It's a simple idea, and didn't need to be executed well to be highly effective.

Other than a mudskipper tank with some very large specimens, nice theming and not a lot of water, the main final thrust of the aquarium is a conveyer belt tunnel that goes through a shark tank and I think a separate ocean tank. It's totally fine.

There's a bit of 'lab' area with lots of educational material. The aquarium really should be praised for its interpretative signage, which is comprehensive, visually appealing and interesting. Right up there with the best I've seen. Here as well, for 2020 only, is a display of rat skins (Chinese year of the rat). A bit bizarre, but also some very unusual species. Also, two degu in a pet-shop cage!

Aquaria almost needs to be stretched to make it a one hour visit. It sort of feels like a small SeaLife. 'For Asia', though, it's of a high standard and I think you would be prepared to pay the entry fee in the UK, so you should probably pay it here. In a city which has a fairly desultory zoo* and similarly underwhelming bird park, this aquarium feels both at home and ahead of the pack.

*I like Zoo Negara less than most people.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Going downstairs, you are greeted with what is one of the coolest tanks I've actually ever seen. In an Amazon-themed area, there is one relatively shallow tank with mock-rock sides. Rising out of this, enclosed in a cylindrical tank, is a fake tree all the way to the ceiling. It's a simple idea, and didn't need to be executed well to be highly effective.
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That sounds like what used to be the Malaysian flooded forest tank.

I'm not sure I'd want to be paying 78 Ringgits for the KLCC Aquaria. I really liked it when I first visited because I'd never been to a major aquarium before, but that seems really steep.
 
Chlidonias said:
That sounds like what used to be the Malaysian flooded forest tank.
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It almost sounds like someone wasn't paying attention to labels when they walked around recently and just assumed it was an Amazon tank :rolleyes:

Chlidonias said:
I'm not sure I'd want to be paying 78 Ringgits for the KLCC Aquaria. I really liked it when I first visited because I'd never been to a major aquarium before, but that seems really steep.
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I certainly wouldn't pay it a second time.
 
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