Does anybody has visited this Aquarium " Aquatopia" in Antwerp and can tell me more about it, how large is the building, how many tanks, how big is the largest tank, how many species, any rare species, how is the vistors area formed and so on. Is it worth to visit that place ? I think, it is not away from the main entrance of the Zoo ?
Hi The entrance of Aquatopia is at the corner of the Astrid Park Plaza Hotel, so actually the aquarium lies in the hotel building, it's kind of strange but so it is . The hotel is at the opposite of the central station, so very close to the Antwerp Zoo. They have more than 10.000 animals (also reptiles). I don't know how many tanks or how big the biggest tank is. There is a tunnel section and a bridge in glass above the water. On their website I see that they have Horn Sharks, the first ones on the European land. I've been there twice, it's quit nice! You also can buy a combi ticket for the Antwerp Zoo. www.aquatopia.be
It's a decent sized aquarium, but nothing spectaculair. You can easily fit it in list of Sea Life's and it wouldn't stand out. The glass bridge is a nice curiosity but the tank it's in is not all that huge. Everyone says that the entree fee is way too high for what it is, and i can only agree. For around 1,5 hours of fun, anything above 10 euro's (and its something like 12 atm?) is a bit too much. You can however, buy a combi ticket with the zoo just across the street. The only down bit about that is that you'll have to leave the zoo an 1,5 hour sooner to see it, and if you're a slow goër (like me), you'll have a hard time seeing everything at the zoo you'd like... Worth a visit perhaps if you're close, got the time and money to spare and see once.
After I've visted the Webside of them, I've thought its similar to the Sealife Centres... But well, if I go to Antwerp in october, I will have time enough to visit it,and because I'm not smoking, I have money enough for visting such places like Aquatopia... Do they have a guidebook ?
aquatopia's biggest tank is about 350 000 liters of water. around 35-40 vivaria (both aquarium and terrarium) entrance fee: 13 euro structural feature: the submerged glass bridge. only 2 in the world so far. interesting animals: zebra bullhead shark (heterodontus zebra, probably unique in europe), nautilus belauensis, zebra shark (stegostoma fasciatum) you'll find some pics of our last visit here. Picasa Web Albums - Dragonlady - Aquatopia 7-2008
allthough I post here mainly on the shoebills at paradisio, my actual interest are fish and reptiles. so I thought to post here some news on the new inhabitants at aquatopia. an aquarium facilitity near the antwerp zoo. (but not part of it) recently they received 3 zebra bullhead sharks (1.2 heterodontus zebra). a species that's very rare in aquarium collections. I went to see them with my girlfriend the first week they were on display other pics on Picasa-webalbums - Dragonlady - Aquatopia 7-2008
the new sharks seem to have adapted fine. first attempts of mating have been observed. so far the male is only biting the females fins, but hey, it's a start.
