My review of Jakarta Aquarium from my visit today (13th of May 2022):
Pluses:
- They added some new animals like the tufted capuchin, black-and-white lemur, Asian palm civet, longspine porcupinefish, goldsilk seabream, dwarf hawkfish, golden pompano, river terrapin, pig-nosed turtle, vampire crab, pinnate batfish, talang queenfish, geometric moray, spotted wobbegong, milkfish and speckled sandperch. Unfortunately for the tufted capuchin, I can't take a pic of it since it's still adapting to its environment.
- Jimmy the Binturong can be interacted again, unlike last year when everyone barely got vaxxed here in Indonesia, let alone boosted. I really enjoyed rubbing its flaky and popcorn-smelling fur (something that I yearned for since 2019)
- It wasn't too crowded as usual since I came on a weekday, and the price there for the Premium ticket was worth it. I can get out to get some meals before continuing my journey there.
- Arapaimas will be finally coming to Jakarta Aquarium soon, confirmed by a zookeeper there. Aside from them, giant groupers will come as well, replacing the dead ones that was housed in the Southern Sea Gallery in 2017-2021.
Minuses:
- The Asian palm civet was kept inside the small tank/exhibit that used to house the albino python, green iguana, red tegu and coconut crab in the past. It's kinda cruel for a world-class aquarium like Jakarta Aquarium, and like said above it can be converted into a tank for Australian lungfish or Chinese giant salamander.
- The Southern Sea Gallery felt emptier than usual, with the loss of the giant groupers, bowmouth guitarfish, giant guitarfish and some other minor fishes (malabar grouper, orange-spotted grouper, blue-and-yellow grouper, map puffer and humphead wrasse)
- The seadragon exhibit looks a bit dirtier than usual, and the isopod exhibit was dimmer than usual as well. Also the horsehair crab that was in the isopod exhibit was gone.
- Some animals that were phased out during my visit included sunbeam snake, blue-and-yellow macaw, cherry anthias, old wife, ornate cowfish, Shaw's cowfish, horsehair crab, all species of parrotfish and groupers, map puffer, Asian horned frog and dusky pademelon.
- A YouTuber named Jamm Vlog supposedly donated a shovelnose ray and a hybrid grouper, but not displayed until now. Still wondering where are they, though I feel the grouper might have been dead since it had a damaged swim bladder. Video below this review: