Yesterday I went to Antwerp and before going to the zoo I visited - for the first time - another animal-attraction in this city. About 200 - 300 meters from the zoo, in a large building you can find Aquatopia, an aquarium which is housed in the building and covers 3 levels. After entering the building and having payed the entrance-fee you walk through a dark hallway into the first room being the Rainforest. From a small bridge you can view into some pond in which lots of fish are housed among them freshwater rays and chiclids. Against the wall more fish can be seen in aquariums and a special aquarium house a nice group of Pyranhas. When we walk further we come along some small tanks with invebrates ( terrestial ). Now we enter another room called the Submarine ( Duikboot ). Here we can find some strange shaped aquariums - tubes connected by tubes - and here we can observe stonefish ( seen ), octopus ( not seen ) and several other fishes.
With an escalator we now go to the first floor and enter the Lab, a number of small aquariums used for breeding and quarantaine. On my visit it housed some Clownfishes, some corals and other sea-creatures. In a special room there is a classroom of education and an other area is a playing-space for smaller children ( with in the wall a beautifull aquarium ).
The next section of Aquatopia is called the Mangroves and here an open-topped aquarium houses a lot of rays, batfishes, argusfishes and others. On the walls more smaller aquariums. The next room is the Swamp ( Moeras ) and here we go through a walk-through enclosure fro Green iguanas and turtles. In a room next to this walk-through there is another room for reptiles ( snakes, iguanas and tegus ) in open-topped enclosures.
In a large room, decorated with artificial rocks, we find several beautifull coralreef-aquariums with loads of colorfull fishes most of which I don't know by name and several complete new to me.
The next room we again reach by escalator and contains a large chiclid-aquarium with a large waterfall.
The we get the impression of entering the large open beak of a shark ( well done ! ) and inside the shark another escalator brings us down to the sharktunnel. Here sharks, large groupers and sea turtles live in an enormous bassin. After the tunnel we can view the same enclosure by a large window. This window is in the restaurant so during eating and/or drinking you can view the movements of the fishes and turtles.
The next ( and last ) escalator )brings us back to ground-level and from a bridge we can view in the sharktunnel-enclosure from above.
By an hallway in prehistoric theme we now come into the souvenir-shop and by the exit of Aquatopia.
Altogether a very nice aquarium, well looked after, with very nice species and the only critical note being that some of the aquariums were a little overfilled with fish.
I will up-load some pictures in the Aquatopia Gallery.
With an escalator we now go to the first floor and enter the Lab, a number of small aquariums used for breeding and quarantaine. On my visit it housed some Clownfishes, some corals and other sea-creatures. In a special room there is a classroom of education and an other area is a playing-space for smaller children ( with in the wall a beautifull aquarium ).
The next section of Aquatopia is called the Mangroves and here an open-topped aquarium houses a lot of rays, batfishes, argusfishes and others. On the walls more smaller aquariums. The next room is the Swamp ( Moeras ) and here we go through a walk-through enclosure fro Green iguanas and turtles. In a room next to this walk-through there is another room for reptiles ( snakes, iguanas and tegus ) in open-topped enclosures.
In a large room, decorated with artificial rocks, we find several beautifull coralreef-aquariums with loads of colorfull fishes most of which I don't know by name and several complete new to me.
The next room we again reach by escalator and contains a large chiclid-aquarium with a large waterfall.
The we get the impression of entering the large open beak of a shark ( well done ! ) and inside the shark another escalator brings us down to the sharktunnel. Here sharks, large groupers and sea turtles live in an enormous bassin. After the tunnel we can view the same enclosure by a large window. This window is in the restaurant so during eating and/or drinking you can view the movements of the fishes and turtles.
The next ( and last ) escalator )brings us back to ground-level and from a bridge we can view in the sharktunnel-enclosure from above.
By an hallway in prehistoric theme we now come into the souvenir-shop and by the exit of Aquatopia.
Altogether a very nice aquarium, well looked after, with very nice species and the only critical note being that some of the aquariums were a little overfilled with fish.
I will up-load some pictures in the Aquatopia Gallery.
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