Den Blå Planet The Blue Planet
As I said in my previous post, they have been ordered. The only thing that can stop it is if they don't adapt to captivity at the holding facilities in Taiwan (a requirement before they're send on). Both the mantas and the hammerheads will be quite small when received and I won't pretend to know how the mantas will do in some years when fully adult. Even the "small" M. alfredi they'll get can get quite large, though it doesn't reach the huge size possible in M. birostris. If they find that they don't thrive when fully adult I guess they'll do what Lisbon did to their manta (release) or uShaka did (moved to a large facility -- unless something slipped my mind, Georgia, Atlantis Bahama, Dubai, Okinawa and Singapore are the only with much larger tanks/lagoons). But that's pure guesswork and it'll be years before they reach a size where that could be an issue. Of note that at 4 mio.l., the Denmark's Aquarium tank won't be much smaller than the 5.4 mio.l. Osaka tank where they kept mantas for years without major problems, and unlike the Osaka tank, the Denmark's Aquarium tank doesn't have a strange shape that takes up swimming space. I might add that I do think Osaka's tank is problematic for whale sharks, but that's another discussion. But beyond tank size, it's fairly clear that there are some big unknowns in keeping mantas. After all, Okinawa is the only place with breeding mantas and their tank is 7.5 mio.l. (+they have whale sharks that take up space), much smaller than Georgia and Atlantis Bahama.
scalloped or smooth, don't remember which.
filipinos
Well-Known Member
That´s some good and bad news. Really interesting to know they are still trying to get sea otters. About the Manta Ray, it will not live much time in that tank if it´s only 3.5 Million Litres.
Nice to see another nice european aquarium, even if i don´t like competition to Lisbon...
Nice to see another nice european aquarium, even if i don´t like competition to Lisbon...
4 mio.l, though .5 doesn't make a huge difference. Personally I do believe it'll be a success long term but who knows. The only somewhat scientific thing an assessment of this can be based on is simple comparison with other aquariums with M.alfredi, the smaller manta species and the one heading for Denmark's Aquarium. The only aquariums that have kept several of these long term are Osaka and Okinawa. They are also the two aquariums that have kept mantas (regardless of species) the longest:
Denmark's Aquarium: 4 mio.l, normal shape, no whale sharks.
Osaka: 5.4 mio.l, strange X-shape that takes up swimming space, whale sharks take up space.
Okinawa, old: 1.1 mio.l., normal shape, no whale shark.
Okinawa, new (incl. only breeding): 7.5 mio.l, normal shape, whale sharks take up space.
Yes, remarkably they kept mantas in a 1.1 mio.l. tank in Okinawa before they were moved to the new aquarium in 2002! When moved to the new facility, the oldest had lived for 10 years in the 1.1. mio.l. tank. It clearly wasn't optimum and I would never suggest an aquarium with a tank of that size should get mantas, but it revealed that M. alfredi can be kept long term in surprisingly small tanks. If one was to make the rather comical example of "if I was a manta", I'd rather live in the tank in Denmark's Aquarium than at Osaka, but I'd prefer Okinawa (new) over both.
Regardless, having seen most of the large aquariums around the world, I firmly believe that large tunas, kept at a handful of aquariums around the world, require more space than mantas due to the big difference in activity.
If Denmark's Aquarium finds that the mantas don't trive when fully adult, it'll also be many years into the future. Lisbon's M.birostris took almost 5 years to grow from 2.2 m to 3.5 and the M. alfredi heading for Denmark's aquarium will be smaller (there's already mantas in the holding facilities in Taiwan but I don't know if they're the ones heading for Denmark). The largest M.alfredi at Osaka is 4 m and the largest at Okinawa is 4.5.
Anyway, time will tell.
If I understand it right, they're still hoping at Denmark's Aq, but if it actually happens it certainly won't be before the opening. The only North American sea otters that can be forwarded are unreleasable individuals from rehabilitation centres. When such an unreleasable individual is available (or individuals; my guess is that they're unwilling to send just one to live in solitude pending the arrival of a partner that may, or may not, materialize), you have to navigate all the red tape -- convince the US authorities to allow the transfer to an overseas facility. I guess it would be easier to get the Russian subspecies like the ones at Lisbon, but that brings up some other questions.
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Hammerheads arrived. Like said before they're still small and with the slow hammerhead growth rate it'll be a few years before they've reached full adult size. Here's a video that shows some parts of the aquarium when the finishing touches were ongoing (still looks quite empty at this point): http://politiken.dk/poltv/ibyen_dk/...-haandvaerkerne-der-arbejder-paa-havets-bund/
The Danish version of their new homepage is up and running. This is a link to the map also shown in the Toddy's first post, but with small explanations showing where the main sections are located if you click on the crosses: http://translate.google.com/transla...&u=http://www.denblaaplanet.dk/#oplev&act=url
Google translate is semi-decent for most things in Danish, except "pjaltefisk" = seadragon, "catfish" = wolffish, and "spade sturgeon" = paddlefish. Opens in about week.
The Danish version of their new homepage is up and running. This is a link to the map also shown in the Toddy's first post, but with small explanations showing where the main sections are located if you click on the crosses: http://translate.google.com/transla...&u=http://www.denblaaplanet.dk/#oplev&act=url
Google translate is semi-decent for most things in Danish, except "pjaltefisk" = seadragon, "catfish" = wolffish, and "spade sturgeon" = paddlefish. Opens in about week.
I don't think they have even caught any in the nets at the "wholesaler" in Taiwan yet. I haven't heard anything, one would think they mentioned it with how the hammerheads got some media attention.
Though sea otters and manta rays were the species I looked forward to the most, it's still all too tempting to go to Copenhagen the upcoming weekend. Too bad I probably cannot afford it...
Though sea otters and manta rays were the species I looked forward to the most, it's still all too tempting to go to Copenhagen the upcoming weekend. Too bad I probably cannot afford it...
Toddy
Well-Known Member
I went to see The Blue Planet yesterday as a guest on a special test-opening day. My general impression was mixed but generally positive. A few notes on the species seen:
- Hammerheads were looking great in the big Ocean Tank.
- No sea otters yet, but according to staff they are making good progress on that.
- The manta rays have been delayed.
- The puffins and guillemots are also delayed.
- The sea dragons have arrived and are quite extraordinary.
filipinos
Well-Known Member
Some very nice news you have there!
Have you visted any other great aquarium? If yes, how would you rate it?
And fo you have pics?
Thanks
They're kept for a long time, making sure they feed and are healthy, before they're passed on. The hammerheads had been in captivity for months in Taiwan before anything was reported in Danish media. I saw photos of captive mantas at the 'wholesaler' several months ago but don't know if they're the ones heading for Denmark. Keep in mind that aquariums in the Western World get most Indo-Pacific non-captive bred sharks/rays from two countries: Australia and Taiwan. This is essentially because long-distance transport of larger Elasmobranchs is complex and few companies have the know-how. Additionally, unlike most countries in the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan and Australia both have high standard legislations and documentation requirements, meaning that Western aquariums can document that the sharks/rays were caught sustainably.
Some very nice news you have there!
Have you visted any other great aquarium? If yes, how would you rate it?
And fo you have pics?
Thanks
I have visited most major aquariums around the world (still missing South Korea, most Chinese aquaria and the new in Singapore) and visited Blue Planet for the first time yesterday. A summary on some of the main sections:
- The architecture is great. I also had the chance to see the building from above on my flight to the nearby Kastrup Airport. From an architectural point of view, I only rate California Academy of Sciences (Steinhart Aquarium) at a similar level. This is a matter of personal taste, of course.
- Main tank, with a bit more than 4 mio. litre, looks great but somewhat empty since hammerheads still small, perhaps 1 metre long. The tank also has blacktip reef shark, zebra shark, eagle rays, stingrays, guitarfish, groupers, trevallies, batfish, many smaller fish, etc. It is clear that the tank stocking is aimed at having enough room for the adult hammerheads and it'll be some years before they're of that size. It was interesting to see that a tiny bicolor cleaner wrasse already had set up a cleaner station close to the visitor tunnel. During my visit surgeonfish and a large groupers were among the 'clients'.
- The long, main coral reef tank section looks great. It was evident that most corals still hadn't settled fully. With further coral growth, it may well end up as my 2nd favorite coral tank in Europe (the huge Burgers' Ocean coral tank remains the indisputable European champ in this category).
- Not much to add on the seadragon -- very interesting fish and they're the only in Scandinavia. I've seen them several other places. I don't remember seeing a group this young before.
- African Great Lake cichlid tanks are nice. Great to see that they didn't limit it to Malawi as many aquaria do but also had tanks for Tanganyika and frequently overlooked Victoria. The dwarf crocodile and a few small African birds are also in this section. I'm not a big fan of the adjacent hyrax exhibit.
- The Amazon aquaria are nice. Among these is a tank with a huge school of piranha (a few thousand, supposedly -- didn't count!), which is impressive and appeared to be the Amazon tank most popular to general visitors. My favorite was the arapaima/freshwater stingray/catfish/pacu/etc tank. The land Amazon rainforest section has too many fake trees for my liking and is secondary to the aquarium sections.
- Herring aquarium: A fairly small aquarium that may not appear as much to most visitors. It deserves a mention because of its innovation. As I mentioned before, herring are notoriously difficult to keep alive in aquaria and generally require a huge tank to survive long-term (like the 4.5 mio litre Nordsoen Oceanarium tank). In smaller tanks, they typically live very short lives, but via a continuous circular current it appears the Blue Planet have cracked the code.
- Sea lion. Other visitors liked it..... I'd rather see a sea otter
- Faroese sea: The idea of combining cold water North Atlantic fish (cod, flatfish, etc) with North Atlantic sea birds is great. So far the only birds are a few seaducks and I look forward to seeing it when they've added the alcid birds. The big red pillar 'cliffs' don't look natural at all and won't win any competitions in aesthetics but they're fine for the birds.
- Various other tanks: octopus, brackish water (archerfish, four-eyed fish, etc), electric eel, 'primitive fish' tank (Australian lungfish, gar), cold freshwater tank (sturgeon, carps, etc), touch tank, etc, etc. In total there are 7 mio. litre in 53 tanks on exhibit. Many more backstage.
Well worth a visit. If you're a big aquarium fan and don't visit this part of the world regularly, it might be worth postponing a visit a bit. Then the hammerheads have grown, the corals have settled better, some of the planned species are likely to have arrived (see post #34) and some of the interesting fish they have backstage that aren't ready for exhibit just yet may be on exhibit.
It won't happen anytime soon but the aquarium design is apparently made to allow easy expansion through lengthening the 'propeller arms' of the building. I've already heard about some interesting ideas but only rumours at this point of time.
filipinos
Well-Known Member
Thanks very much, i really liked the review.
I surely hope to visit this aquarium in the near Future, wich is quite possibly next to Nordsoen Aquarium the best in Central and Northern Europe, and surely as nice as Valencia, Brest, Lisbon or Genoa!
Can´t wait to see if Lisbon is nicer
I surely hope to visit this aquarium in the near Future, wich is quite possibly next to Nordsoen Aquarium the best in Central and Northern Europe, and surely as nice as Valencia, Brest, Lisbon or Genoa!
Can´t wait to see if Lisbon is nicer
Can´t wait to see if Lisbon is nicer
Well, that depends on what you're looking at: In total size, they're fairly close, 7.5 mio litres (Lisbon) vs. 7 mio l (Blue Planet), and both places have almost 500 species. However, Lisbon is entirely salt water, while Blue Planet is salt and fresh water. Consequently Blue Planet is behind Lisbon when looking at salt water, but in front when looking at total diversity.
filipinos
Well-Known Member
I agree, even if Lisbon is more close to 9 Million Litres with the new exhibit.
Lisbon has one of the world´s best salt water animal collection, but really lacks on freshwater. That´s why they built the Mora Fluviarium, the 2nd Biggest River Aquarium in Europe.
Thanks again!
Lisbon has one of the world´s best salt water animal collection, but really lacks on freshwater. That´s why they built the Mora Fluviarium, the 2nd Biggest River Aquarium in Europe.
Thanks again!
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Toddy
Well-Known Member
I must admit I am surprised to see such a positive review from you, @condor. Granted The Blue Planet has its merits but I was honestly a bit disappointed with the whole thing. There are some fun species but the basic design of the aquarium is still based on the old model which is visitors looking from a dark area into a lit-up "box". Just some comments on your review:
I'm very glad you enjoyed The Blue Planet but I wouldn't define it as a world class aquarium.
Granted. The architecture is very well done and the building certainly is a landmark. However, there seemed to be a lot of wasted space inside the building?
I was quite disappointed with the main tank. It isn't that big, seems very empty and the tunnel doesn't really give you the feeling of being surrounded by water. Also, those yellow fake corrals are GHASTLY.
Once again, isn't it just one long square box? No immersion effect at all and nothing that makes it stand out as a visitor experience
Now this exhibit looks brilliant as a panorama/museum display and the tanks are well done as well as the exhibit for dwarf crocodiles. However, as an exhibit for passerines and hyraxes it fails horribly (as you rightly say).
Also a very bland and uninteresting section. The piranha tank and underwater viewing was very nice but the rainforest itself looks very artificial with a weird mix of architecture focus and naturalism focus.
The sea lion exhibit is of very poor quality. The sea lions have way to little land space and visitor viewing areas are horribly done.Sea lion. Other visitors liked it..... I'd rather see a sea otter
Yes, a VERY nice idea but very poorly done. The cliffs look like the designers took a trip to the Baboon Cave in Copenhagen Zoo and decided that the retro was the way to go. Essentially a big hole. Also, staff is unsure that the birds (when they arrive) will be able to get up onto the steep cliffs as there is no updraught in the exhibit.
Once again: Very interesting species but why only in box shapes???
I'm very glad you enjoyed The Blue Planet but I wouldn't define it as a world class aquarium.