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"The small-tooth sawfish - one of five sawfish species found in Australia - will be joining other fish at Sydney Aquarium's Great Barrier Reef exhibit from December 8."

Not joining the sickle-fins! Four sawfish will be in the GBR oceanarium. The first is already in, two more today and another at a later date.
 
All 4 sawfish are now in the GBR exhibit 3:1:0. The two lemons have gone to join the others until the next move.
 
Now now... I'm sure the snub-nosed darts were an accident! They are better than the ferals they have now joined.
 
I remember when the 'ferals' were shy and the aquarists were trying their hardest to encourage them to hand feed. Oops.
 
the first article below was linked to a while back on the Melbourne Aquarium thread (http://www.zoochat.com/24/merlin-takes-over-melbourne-aquarium-underwater-275601/index3.html) but I found a second article as well, so thought it best to put them here (mainly so I can find them again if I need to but also for the last sentence of the second article).

Tropical Bay of Rays | Explore | Sydney Aquarium
The new Tropical Bay of Rays area of Sydney Aquarium, houses the most colourful combination of Australian rays - many threatened or endangered - ever displayed together.

There are more than 600 species of rays worldwide. Rays have adapted to survive in open oceans, shallow reefs, deep continental shelves, estuaries and freshwater environments.

Similar to sharks, rays have skeletons made out of cartilage; they are identified by a flattened body with gills found on the underside of their 'disk' (body) and vary significantly in size - some rays, like the Manta Ray, can grow to 7m and weigh over 1300kg!

A variety of ray species call the new Bay of Rays home, many of which are making their debut appearance at the attraction.

It will be difficult to miss the electric blue spots of the Fantail Rays and the Blue-spotted Maskray, and with other species including the spectacular Leopard Sharks, White-spotted Guitarfish and Leopard Whiprays, the new tropical oasis is a sight not to be missed.
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New home for tropical stingrays - Yahoo!7 News
20 June 2012

Stingrays have copped a bad rap since Steve Irwin's untimely death.

But aquarists say the curious and intelligent marine animals deserve a second chance.

"We really hope that people can learn that rays have a place in the world," said Libby Eyre from the Sydney Aquarium.

"That they're not these scary, big creatures to be feared."

Australian television personality and conservationist Steve Irwin was killed in a stingray attack off the north Queensland coast in September 2006.

"They have a very bad reputation after Steve Irwin but they are incredibly curious, intelligent animals," Ms Eyre said at the official opening of a new exhibit called the Tropical Bay of Ray.

The stars of the show, five tropical stingrays, were released from a bucket into a palm-shrouded bay bathed in pink light at the aquarium on Wednesday.

Native to the Great Barrier Reef, the rays are found around coral reefs and coral flats.

Ms Eyre said they would be monitored to make sure they all got on well and thrived in their new environment.

"We chose our species very carefully," she said.

"We not only look at the species and where they would occur and so on, but we transpose that into a captive situation and think 'Okay, how are they going to go in this space, how will they get along' and then monitor that very, very carefully."

So far, the exhibit has three blue-spotted fantail rays and two blue-spotted maskrays, which are threatened and endangered species.

This number will have grown by the time the aquarium re-launches in September following a $10 million makeover.
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only temporarily off display. They are awesome creatures, should you happen to visit Australia.
 
Dugongs are expected back on display in September or October, I think. Is there still a dugong at UnderWater World Sentosa? If not, the two at Sydney might be the only ones in captivity in the world now.

I have real mixed feelings about this place these days. I may be making another short trip to Sydney in September (footy finals - supporting a team from another state is expensive!) but am honestly torn about whether to go to the Aquarium and see the changes. I loved the place and don't relish seeing the Merlinisation in person.
 
CGSwans said:
Dugongs are expected back on display in September or October, I think. Is there still a dugong at UnderWater World Sentosa? If not, the two at Sydney might be the only ones in captivity in the world now.

I have real mixed feelings about this place these days. I may be making another short trip to Sydney in September (footy finals - supporting a team from another state is expensive!) but am honestly torn about whether to go to the Aquarium and see the changes. I loved the place and don't relish seeing the Merlinisation in person.
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I thought that there were around four dugongs in captivity in Japanese aquariums? I really want to go see the whole place when all of the renevations are complete but the new Tropical Bay of Rays looks really bad.
 
CGSwans said:
Dugongs are expected back on display in September or October, I think. Is there still a dugong at UnderWater World Sentosa? If not, the two at Sydney might be the only ones in captivity in the world now.
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The dugong at Underwater World was not on display in November 2011, with the exhibit area blocked off, so maybe they do no longer have this species, or perhaps they have just been renovating the enclosure. Dugong are still mentioned on their website.
 
Are they actually building a new home for the dugongs, or are they just renovating it? Because the exhibit they had was really nice. A renovation for the shark aquarium was really needed, so that's a good thing. And where did they build that bay of rays? I hope it's not in the coral reef exhibit, that part of the aquarium was perfect, it certainly doesn't need a merlin make-over!
 
Sentosa still has Gracie (female dugong), Jaya Ancol Sea World has a male and female, Toba has a female (lost their male a few months back). The two Sydney Aquarium dugongs (Pig and Wuru) should be back on display after 20 September when the Aquarium gets re-branded. Their oceanarium was never being renovated - the sharks were moved into there whilst the shark tank gets renovated (hence why no dogongs were left on display).

Tropical Bay of Rays is where the saltwater crocodile/mechanical white shark were. Totally out of place. It's awful but the rays are nice :) The theming outside the smaller tanks is nearly complete and looks quite good.
 
Gryphon said:
Sentosa still has Gracie (female dugong), Jaya Ancol Sea World has a male and female, Toba has a female (lost their male a few months back). The two Sydney Aquarium dugongs (Pig and Wuru) should be back on display after 20 September when the Aquarium gets re-branded. Their oceanarium was never being renovated - the sharks were moved into there whilst the shark tank gets renovated (hence why no dogongs were left on display).

Tropical Bay of Rays is where the saltwater crocodile/mechanical white shark were. Totally out of place. It's awful but the rays are nice :) The theming outside the smaller tanks is nearly complete and looks quite good.
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Is it pretty much how it looks on the promo: One big room with a large(ish) tank in the middle and smaller tanks on the sides?
 
Bay of Rays? Not quite - you walk through from the freshwater area and it opens up into a lilac-hued area with ray graphics on the wall, copacobana-style huts and the hexagonal tank in the centre lit by fairy lights (ok, maybe I'm being a bit harsh!). You then walk through to the rest of the freshwaters and around to temperate marine. As I said, the little rays are very nice, but the tank is not.
 
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