Istanbul Akvaryum Istanbul aquarium, Europe's biggest?

[kiang]

A new aquarium has opened in Istanbul, Turkey, claiming to be the biggest in Europe.
Some of its statistics are as follows :

LOCATION:
FLORYA SAHILI - ISTANBUL

LAND:
100,000 m2

TOTAL CONSTRUCTION AREA:
55,000 m2

MULTISTOREY CAR PARK:
32,000 m2

AQUARIUM BUILDING:
23,000 m2

TOTAL TANK CAPACITY:
7,000 m3

TOTAL NUMBER OF TANKS:
74 UNITS

CLIENT:
ISTANBUL METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY

CONTRACTOR:
OZTAS-NUHOGLU-ALT ve UST YAPI

It was officially opened by Turkeys prime minister.

Turkey's largest aquarium opens to large crowds / VIDEO | General | World Bulletin

ISTANBUL: Istanbul Aquarium - SkyscraperCity

 

[KEEPER]

Just for information:

L'Oceanogràfic in Valencia has 110,000 m2 total land area (30,000 m2 are technical zones ) and 80,000 m2 for more than 40 aquariums,lakes and pools, and restaurants/shops and more facilities.
The water capacity are 24,000 m3 salt water and 12,000 m3 fresh water.

 

[devilfish]

Thought I'd share this

The aquarium has featured in the popular Turkish soap opera 'ömre bedel'.
For many reasons, dubbed Turkish soaps are now increasingly popular across the Middle East, and I actually caught my mum watching the episode featuring the aquarium at the weekend. Naturally, I scrutinised the footage of fish later, and identified some interesting species.

So, this being zoochat, here's a list of the identifiable fish featured:
Giant gourami (Osphronemus goramy)
Giant snakehead (Channa micropeltes)
Giant barb (Catlocarpio siamensis)
Tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum)
Red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri)
Gilthead bream (Sparus aurata)
Golden trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus)
Arowana sp.

I was told in December that the aquarium also houses arapaima which were sent from the company's sister aquarium in Dubai.

 

[ANyhuis]

Really in Europe?

As this place claims to be "Europe's Largest Aquarium" (and that's in doubt, due to KEEPER's input), can I assume that this Aquarium is truly in the European section of Istanbul? As most people know, Istanbul is a true bicontinental city, with an Asian section and an European section. A bridge connects them. So if we want to be technical, is this Aquarium really in Europe, or might it actually be across the bridge in Asia?

Also, as Devilfish tells us, this Aquarium is apparently associated with the Dubai Aquarium. If so, that's great, as I've been to Dubai's aquarium and it's amazing!

 

[devilfish]

Istanbul actually has two large aquaria. Turkuazoo, and Istanbul Akvaryum. Although internet sources (even including news articles) seem to mix them together or confuse them with each other, they both seem to be significant aquaria in their own right.

Both are located in the European part of Istanbul.

Istanbul Akvaryum is the newer collection, having opened in 2011, and claims to be the world's largest 'thematic' aquarium. I'm not sure exactly what this means, but I hope to find out when I visit this summer. My previous post refers to Istanbul Akvaryum.

Turkuazoo boasts a number of different firsts. It's the older aquarium, apparently with a deeper main tank, and it's the only aquarium to have a PADI-certified diving centre. It's also based in a mall.

When I was in Dubai I was told that their arapaima had been sent to the new sister aquarium in Istanbul, which I presume is Istanbul Akvaryum but this hasn't been confirmed.

 

[filipinos]

There are 3 big aquariums in Europe, not including Istanbul´s pair:
- Genoa Aquarium, with around 8 million litres and is Europe´s third largest aquarium.
- Lisbon Aquarium, second largest aquarium in Europe and the second largest indoor aquarium in the World. Has around 10 million litres.
- Valencia Aquarium is Europe´s largest aquarium and one of the biggest marine life complexes in the world. Currently has around 12 million litres.

Both these aquariums (Turkuazoo and Instanbul Aquarium) might not match any of these aquariums.