Vancouver Public Aquarium - questions

[Seaquest]

Hi

Great question, I've never had the chance to visit the Vancouver aquarium. I find that many Public aquariums seem to have small reef living exhibits as we have in our homes and they tend to be kept in a more natural condition as found in the wild not as our manicured reef tanks.

[Troy F]

Hi Tony, it has been a while since my last visit to the aquarium. Everything looked good back then. The head aquarist over there is a very friendly guy from Japan named Tack. We've discussed the whole behind the scenes tour on the board before but no one has taken the initiative. I think it'd be fairly easy to set up.

[Jack]

The tanks looked so awsome when I was there last, but like Troy, it was a few months ago when I was last there. They look really good and they have surge devices that are pretty neat.

[Delphinus]

1. Does anybody work there or know somebody who works there?

2. What is the state of their reef displays? The last time I was there I seem to remember a massive aiptasia infestation in one of their reef tanks. Is this cleared up or is it the same? Any new tanks?

3. As perhaps part of the Vancouver reefing club, has there ever been a "behind the scenes" tour? Are there any tentative plans for a future event that maybe people from outside Vancouver could tag along if the event was say, planned well ahead of time and mentioned in here? (I know I'd be tempted to come out to the coast for such an event)...

4. Besides the aiptasia exhibit, do they happen to have any anemone/clownfish exhibits?

[MitchM]

Tony,
I was there in January, and they had completely changed around the main reef display tank. Not sure why.
Last year I actually grabbed the food manager and he let me in the back rooms. Pretty cool, but he couldn't answer any questions, of course.
Definitely worth a try to visit the back area!

Mitch

[christyf5]

Hey guys,
I just contacted the Vancouver Aquarium and they no longer to "behind the scenes" tours.
Here is the email I got from them:

"Unfortunately we no longer offer group tours behind-the-scenes. Instead what we do offer is a program called our Trainer Tour. This is a 45 minute tour that begins with 10 minutes or so in our new arrival centre which is behind-the-scenes, followed by a trip down to the marine mammal kitchen where participants prepare some treats before stepping out into the habitats to feed either the sea otters, Steller sea lions or harbour seals."

Not exactly what we were looking for. Anyone know someone that works there and can get us in maybe??

Christy smile.gif

[Troy F]

Hi Christy, I've talked to Tak once or twice but I wouldn't say I know him. John at J&L's has a business relationship with him, I could try him if we had a small group of interested people.