Henry Doorly Zoo

[Fantasy Reefer]

I havent been to the zoo yet this year to see what its is like now, but over in the fish forum here on RC someone has just posted a less than favorable review. I was wondering if anyone here could tell me if things have actually gone downhill up there or if that guy just got there on the wrong day. Ive alway been impressed with how good everything looks at the zoo, and would be very disappointed if that guy was right.

[smcwhirt]

I replied over there, but in short I think assumptions were made based on a small amount of knowledge for home aquariums i.e. not keeping multiple tangs in one aquarium. It's been a month or two since I've been to the aquarium, but in my opinion it keeps getting better. I've never seen anything in the zoo aquarium that would make me think it's going downhill.

[Fantasy Reefer]

Thanks smcwhirt. I was somewhat startled by what he had wrote, and since i havent been to the zoo in more than a year i thought i would ask everyone here if there was any truth in what he wrote.
I better get over and see the zoo aquarium again soon.

[big red]

Just visited the zoo last weekend.... looked good to me. I wish we had that in St. Louis. Are those two large capricornis real?.... WOW.
Scott

[smcwhirt]

I'm not sure which ones you are talking about but my guess is they are. Mitch has a great propogation program going on there. A lot of those corals have probably been growing in there since the aquarium opened.

[big red]

It was a huge green M. capricornis. Looked very nice. As you are walking through, it was in the display on the left with the surge system in the right corner.
Do they ever give tours of the filtration system? I wanted to stop and watch the video but my two kids did not think that was very fun.
Scott

[smcwhirt]

I believe that is the Sulawesi beach display and those are definetly real corals. That's my favorite exhibit in the zoo. I know they take the marine society behind the scenes at some meetings but other than that I'm not sure.

Sean

[Fantasy Reefer]

Do they still have the leafy sea dragons? Those things are so impressive. Any new displays you can preview for us? And most important, how do we get frags?:)

[big red]

Yes. They have the leafy sea dragons along with various sea horses. Very nice.

[smcwhirt]

The only way I know to get frags is to join to the marine society and they give some away at the Christmas party. Otherwise if you have something rare and unusual you're willing to part with you can try playing let's make a deal with Mitch.

[Fantasy Reefer]

The only thing i have to trade are my red discoma with blue spots, not exactly rare or unusual. I am calling Mike to join the O.M.S.