Bolton Museum Aquarium Bolton Aquarium Trip Review

[Water Dragon]

So today I visited the Aquarium in Bolton. This is the only collection left in Bolton (if you don't count Smithills Farm) since the closure of Moss Bank Park's Animal World, and is home to many fish. Though it is small, it is quite a nice collection and they do have a few rare species there as well. I visited this aquarium a lot as a child and it has changed quite a bit since then but a few of the fish that were there when (and even before) I was a toddler are still there today. It has been quite a while since I have visited so on my trip today, I had a nice warm feeling of nostalgia.

The aquarium is situated in Bolton Library. Above the library is the Bolton Museum (which was closed on my visit) and beneath it is the aquarium, in the basements. Though a small collection, it has a few lovely species and the aquariums are kept to a top standard. Though I have never kept fish at home, I am a good lover of fish and aquatics, and it was my favourite part of my job back when I worked in a pet shop (after the reptiles of course ).

One very rare species that they have are the Bigtooth River Stingrays. Now, according to ZTL and the a worker that I spoke to there, this is the only UK holding of this stingray species. The male is called Arthur, but I can't remember the names of the females. The stingrays were brought in after the old knifefish died. He was an amazing creature and it is such a shame that he is gone now. He was always the main highlight of any visit. I guess that the stingrays are the highlight of the trip now, but they are still really cool animals. Some of the other fish include some enormous catfish (mother-of-snails and driftwood), piranhas, Malawi cichlids, various species of danios, goodied, and tetras, a pinstripe damba which is over twenty years old, etc.; plus an enormous clamshell in the centre of the aquarium. Unfortunately, the old ornate birchir has now passed away . All of the species that the aquarium care for are fish; but when I was little the aquarium did have some snakes as well (one was a milksnake and I think the other was a royal python).

Some of the fish that the aquarium have are well over twenty years old, and the aquarium is taking very good care of them. I saw some workers there using some high-tech equipment to maintain the tanks, so the fish here are under very special care. I had a nice chat with one of the workers, and he told me about all of the conservation work that they are doing for the species in their care and many local projects that they are currently undertaking as well.

So at the end of the short visit, as I traditionally did when I was a child, I inserted some coins into the donation box (which is a picture of a fish with the coin-slot in it's mouth). It was a very nice visit and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in fish. Has anyone here visited this collection? I would be very interested to know. I will upload the species list and a few photos later.

 

[Water Dragon]

Celestial Pearl Danio
Pygmy Glass Danio
Lake Kurumoi Rainbowfish
Sondhi's Danio
African Tail-Spot Tetras
Banjo Catfish
Bleeding Blue Tetra
Peruvian Blue Tetra
Coral Pencilfish
Peruvian Dwarf Cichlid
Neon Tetra
Eartheater, Demonfish
Glass Catfish
Shadow Catfish
Kuhli Loach
Cardinal Brachy
Knife Livebearer
Elongate Malawi Cichlid
Lake Malawi Synodontis
Law's Malawi Cichlid
Neon Yellow Malawi Cichlid
Big Tooth River Stingray
Banded Schizodon
Amazon Trout
Driftwood Catfish
Humbug Talking Catfish
Mother-of-Snails Catfish
Red-Hook Myleus
Royal Plec
Sifontes' Catfish
Blue-Eyed Catfish
Bond's Widow Tetra
Disc Tetra
Giant Whiptail Catfish
Graceful Herniodus
Red-Headed Geophagus
Giant Upside-Down Catfish
Schall's Squeaker Catfish
Nile Tilapia
Madagascan Rainbowfish
Damba
Red-Bellied Piranha
Andapa Cichlid
Pin-Stripe Damba
Crescent Goodied
Neon Blue Ricefish
A few odd shrimps and snails that shared with the fish.

These are all of the species that were on-show as of today. I will upload some photos later. I brought a big heavy camera with me which weighed down my shoulder bag; but I later discovered that my phone took better photos of the aquariums than my camera did

 

[gentle lemur]

Many years ago, I knew this collection well as I was a friend of the head aquarist at that time. He was involved in the importation of some of the first Malagasy cichlids to come into the UK and he worked closely with Gordon Reid and Mike Crumpler at Chester Zoo with these species and the Goodeids in particular. Although the display area is relatively small, there is quite a lot of space off-show. I was lucky to have a few opportunities to photograph some of the more unusual species held at that time and some of the photos were used to illustrate an article in Practical Fishkeeping magazine.

 

[devilfish]

Has anyone here visited this collection? I would be very interested to know. I will upload the species list and a few photos later.

I've visited a couple of times. I had the pleasure of spending a morning here with @MikeG early last year, and we then visited Pier Aquatics in Wigan where enormous numbers of unusual fish were displayed prior to a major catfish exposition. A great way to spend a day.

 

[Tim Brown]

An interesting point about this aquarium is that it was originally designed for coldwater,freshwater species..but they couldnt keep the temperatures down(this can be trickier than heating things).

 

[SHAVINGTONZOO]

Visited briefly today. Very impressed. Must find time for a longer visit.

 

[Dormitator]

Six years on from my last visit here, I managed to find myself in the area with a morning free to spend on the museum and aquarium.

Not much has changed in that time, the aquarium is still excellent with a huge variety of freshwater fish, with a focus on rare and endangered species some of which were first bred here in captivity. One of the larger tanks has been given over to juvenile big-tooth river stingrays but other than that the layout was pretty much identical to my last visit, with tanks focussing on specific geographical regions.

Unfortunately the signage is a bit out of date for many tanks which is a shame given how many rare species don't have a sign. My fish ID skills are a little rusty so I often couldn't work out which species was which, but I appreciate the aquarium operates with a tiny budget and signs won't be high up the list.

Ultimately however this is probably in the top three tropical freshwater collections in the UK and is well worth a look if you're in the area. The museum itself is also very pleasant and worth devoting a little time to.