Temporary Stingray touch Exhibits

[Great Argus]

(I also thought of surgeonfish as a possibility, not freshwater of course, but that's just asking for someone to get a nasty cut eventually, and they are also pretty susceptible to disease)

I've seen surgeonfishes in touch pools before, not with the purpose of being touched though. They stayed to the deeper parts and just avoided hands.

Rainbow bass maybe but they could mistake children's hands for food.

If you mean rainbow trout, I've seen them as a feed only attraction before. (As in toss trout pellets in the pool, not hand feeding) They go bonkers for food and put on a pretty good show.

 

[DaLilFishie]

If you mean rainbow trout, I've seen them as a feed only attraction before. (As in toss trout pellets in the pool, not hand feeding) They go bonkers for food and put on a pretty good show.

Yeah, I've seen trout feeding at a fish farm, it's really cool to watch because they go nuts. They weren't Rainbow Trout though, they were Brown Trout.

 

[DaLilFishie]

Another fish that could work for just throwing pellets in would be Barramundi, but they would of course need a huge pond/tank and some way of stopping water splashing on visitors.

 

[Great Argus]

Another fish that could work for just throwing pellets in would be Barramundi, but they would of course need a huge pond/tank and some way of stopping water splashing on visitors.

Can't get more wet than sitting in the splash zone at a cetacean show!

Also I don't believe there's that many (if any?) Barramundi outside Australia.

 

[DaLilFishie]

Can't get more wet than sitting in the splash zone at a cetacean show!

Also I don't believe there's that many (if any?) Barramundi outside Australia.

There are two listings of Barramundi on Zootierliste, and one on JAZA. In Australia though, practically every aquarium has them. JAZA has lots of listings of Barramundy, but the scientific name listed is Scleropages formosus, the Asian Arowana. Not sure why the English name is listed as that.

 

[RatioTile]

Can't get more wet than sitting in the splash zone at a cetacean show!

Also I don't believe there's that many (if any?) Barramundi outside Australia.

Go to any large Chinese supermarket or a Chinatown. The seafood department might sell live Barramundi; however, their conditions are generally poor so they might not survive in a home tank if you rescued them.

 

[Great Argus]

Go to any large Chinese supermarket or a Chinatown. The seafood department might sell live Barramundi; however, their conditions are generally poor so they might not survive in a home tank if you rescued them.

That's a pity. Animals rescued out of the Asian food/medicine trade often don't seem to do great long-term in good homes, probably because of the conditions they suffered prior to being rescued.

 

[Westcoastperson]

I've seen surgeonfishes in touch pools before, not with the purpose of being touched though. They stayed to the deeper parts and just avoided hands.

I'm assuming you're referring to SeaWorld. The SeaWorld one only stays in the deep area. The Aquarium of the pacific has one that doesn't have a deep area so it is usually on the inside of the pool large ray pool near the shorebirds. Something cool about putting such a large fish so close to people is that the Aquarium of The Pacific Sturgeon has a fan club and just before lockdown I got to talk to his keeper who started the Fanclub so maybe there could be some form of educational advantage to surgeons in touch pools as long as they have space to roam.

 

[Great Argus]

I'm assuming you're referring to SeaWorld. The SeaWorld one only stays in the deep area. The Aquarium of the pacific has one that doesn't have a deep area so it is usually on the inside of the pool large ray pool near the shorebirds. Something cool about putting such a large fish so close to people is that the Aquarium of The Pacific Sturgeon has a fan club and just before lockdown I got to talk to his keeper who started the Fanclub so maybe there could be some form of educational advantage to surgeons in touch pools as long as they have space to roam.

We aren't on the same page here. I was mentioning surgeonfish (Acanthuridae) because that was how you originally spelled it. You appear to be talking about sturgeons (Acipenseridae) although they are not common in touchpools, needing cold water. Afaik SeaWorld does not have a sturgeon in the touchpools, especially the tropical one I was referencing. You seem to be mixing up/misspelling the two?

 

[Westcoastperson]

We aren't on the same page here. I was mentioning surgeonfish (Acanthuridae) because that was how you originally spelled it. You appear to be talking about sturgeons (Acipenseridae) although they are not common in touchpools, needing cold water. Afaik SeaWorld does not have a sturgeon in the touchpools, especially the tropical one I was referencing. You seem to be mixing up/misspelling the two?

Your right I am I meant Sturgeon I am very sorry. They do have sturgeon in the manta touch pool but like most other species in that tank it is unlisted. Now that I think about it they do have surgeonfish in the explorer's reef area touch pools in deeper areas

 

[Great Argus]

They do have sturgeon in the manta touch pool but like most other species in that tank it is unlisted.

Manta touch pool? Do you mean rays?

 

[Westcoastperson]

Manta touch pool? Do you mean rays?

Yes it is the touch pool next to the ride manta. Part of the line Goes through an under water part of the touch tank that holds sturgeons. They don’t hold mantas but it’s in the manta area. It used to be called forbidden reef.

 

[Great Argus]

Yes it is the touch pool next to the ride manta. Part of the line Goes through an under water part of the touch tank that holds sturgeons. They don’t hold mantas but it’s in the manta area. It used to be called forbidden reef.

Ah, now I'm following! The manta ride, not manta rays! I didn't know there were sturgeons over there, spent some time at the touch pool though.
A lot of SeaWorld SD's stuff isn't labeled very well, I almost missed the spider crabs, and would never have known where to look for the Spotted Eagle Rays if they hadn't been on the map!

 

[Westcoastperson]

Ah, now I'm following! The manta ride, not manta rays! I didn't know there were sturgeons over there, spent some time at the touch pool though.
A lot of SeaWorld SD's stuff isn't labeled very well, I almost missed the spider crabs, and would never have known where to look for the Spotted Eagle Rays if they hadn't been on the map!

If you go to the ray underwater viewing I think they only have 1 and I believe it’s a white sturgeon
I know what you mean, I didn’t know how rare they’re hornbills were until a few months ago. I always figured they were something simple like ground hornbills so I never checked the cage in the back of the park.

 

[birdsandbats]

Here in the Midwest there are lots of sturgeon touch tanks.

 

[Tapir Master]

Let us not forget about the disastrous Stingray Bay pool failure in Brookfield Zoo. Many rays dead because the zoo crew couldn’t keep up with the possible outage failures of it.

It was honestly for the best what’s left of the pool was long converted into a flower bed.

 

[Westcoastperson]

Here in the Midwest there are lots of sturgeon touch tanks.

Like with Lake Sturgeons or Sea Sturgeons? What parts of zoos/aquariums are these found in? Do the Sturgeons stay near the outside of the pool to get pet or do they just live in the pool and stray away from the hands?

Let us not forget about the disastrous Stingray Bay pool failure in Brookfield Zoo. Many rays dead because the zoo crew couldn’t keep up with the possible outage failures of it.

It was honestly for the best what’s left of the pool was long converted into a flower bed.

I keep hearing about this event where they really unprepared for outages? Like did they have no backup generators or a system overide?

 

[Tapir Master]

I keep hearing about this event where they really unprepared for outages? Like did they have no backup generators or a system overide?

Two repeated incidents happened, the second happening seven years later than the first. The first incident was in July 2008 in which 16 stingrays died due to the heater system malfunctioned, which it raised into 10 degrees higher than what a stingray’s body could take.

The second incident was the big one, which eventually lead to the permanent closure of the exhibit. 54 stingrays died in July 2015 after the pool’s oxygen levels sharply dropped and the life support system malfunctioned. I believe the reasons they decided to give up on the exhibit is due to the pool being too expensive to run or the already high expenses of replacing so many dead stingrays after that last mistake.

 

[birdsandbats]

Like with Lake Sturgeons or Sea Sturgeons? What parts of zoos/aquariums are these found in? Do the Sturgeons stay near the outside of the pool to get pet or do they just live in the pool and stray away from the hands?

Lake and Shovelnose Sturgeons. They are always within aquariums and the sturgeon seem to enjoy it.

 

[imaginarius]

St. Louis has one of these touch pools. But it's under an outdoor pavilion, so they have to ship the animals back down to Florida every fall, then return them in the spring. That must be incredibly stressful for them; the zoo really should invest in making the attraction indoors. The species are usually cownose rays, southern stingrays, white-spotted bamboo sharks, brown-banded bamboo sharks, and bonnethead sharks. It's an up-charge attraction, and honestly not worth the cost.