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Bonita Springs Aquarium and Bird Park

Discussion in 'Speculative Zoo Design and Planning' started by 1 and only Drew, 12 May 2016.

  1. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    First up, there is an old thread (here it is) - this is a fresh start to that thread. There was some confusion, as it was originally a "Florida Native Aquarium". It is now an aquarium, with a very large focus on native Florida species as well as tropical species and exotic birds (hence the second part of the name). I'll start the first post by giving a full species list, by exhibit.

    Manatee Lagoon Complex
    Before you walk into the building, you pass a bridge over a pond with a few american crocodiles inside of it. Natural birds will come and go as they please, but some may not make it out!

    The main feature of this building is the outdoor manatee lagoon. The lagoon has indoor viewing and outdoor viewing, underwater and above-water. There is freshwater in the lagoon. The west indian manatees are the stars of this exhibit. The spotted gar, florida gar, longnose gar, channel catfish, largemouth bass, and bowfin will keep the smaller fish species (discussed in a minute) from taking over the lagoon. The redear sunfish, bluegill, and grass carp will keep insects at a minimum, including mosquitoes. The florida softshell turtles will also keep smaller fish at a controlled level. Roseate spoonbill, white ibis, black crowned night heron, yellow crowned night heron, great blue heron, green heron, tri-colored heron, little blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, cattle egret, and wood stork will be enclosed in this large exhibit as well. Antique-looking wooden bridges will be crossed over the water for visitors to walk through, and large cypress trees and fine netting over the top will keep the birds in and provide them natural nesting and roosting places.

    As you move around the indoor section, a large exhibit has indoor viewing, and contains american alligator, alligator gar, blue catfish, redear sunfish, and golden shiners.

    A large tank inside the building features mississippi map turtle, western pond turtle, florida cooter, barbour's map turtle,, and western mosquitofish.

    There are individual indoor exhibits with glass viewing windows for the following species:
    • Baltimore oriole
    • Land hermit crab
    • Florida pine snake
    • Two-toed amphiuma
    • Grey rat snake
    • Green tree frog
    • Greater siren
    • Loggerhead musk turtle and western mosquitofish
    • Eastern diamondback rattlesnake
    • Corn snake and yellow rat snake
    • Alligator snapping turlte
    • Water moccasin
    • Everglades rat snake
    • Timber rattlesnake and copperhead
    • Black rat snake

    As you pass through a hallway out, you see large tanks in the wall. These are surrounded by informational signs featuring things about invasive species in Florida. The species per tank are:
    • Argentine black and white tegu
    • African rock python
    • Green iguana
    • Burmese python
    • Nile monitor
    • Cane toad
    • Green basilisk lizard and knight anole
    • Cuban tree frog and brown anole
    • Blue tilapia and spotted tilapia
    • Bullseye snakehead
    • Mayan cichlid, midas cichlid, oscar, jaguar cichlid, butterfly peacock bass, and sailfin pleco

    I'll end this post here. That will conclude the Florida native building. I'll just do these reviews by complex. If you read through the older thread, there are a lot of changes, so be sure to pay attention to the lists :)
     
  2. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    The next area we will see is...

    Sea Turtle and Sea Bird Lagoon
    This area will feature a single exhibit, with underwater viewing and above-ground viewing. There will be a large beach with native south Florida beach plants and palm trees, and a few large driftwood pieces - these will be roosting places for the rescued sea birds - there will also be a large expansive beach with a bit of shallow water before the large drop-off into the rocky area for turtles and the fish. The water area is large, mostly to provide swimming space for the rescued turtles. The seabird species in the exhibit will be brown pelicans, american white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, herring gulls, royal terns, and american oystercatchers. There will be hawksbill sea turtles and green sea turtles throughout the exhibit. Smaller fish species in the exhibit will be bermuda chub, gray triggerfish, creole wrasse, royal gramma, beaugregory, spanish hogfish, bluehead wrasse, french angelfish, blue chromis, four eye butterflyfish, glass sleeper, and slipper lobster.
     
    Last edited: 12 May 2016
  3. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    Alright, so now we'll get to check out the main aquarium. This one will be a long one.

    The Aquarium
    In no particular order, here are the exhibits. I am not quite sure how it will be laid out yet. I do know that all of the Florida exhibits will be together though, and slowly transition into the tropical/exotic exhibits. Feel free to suggest another theme for a tank, as I feel it is a tiny bit lacking in tanks.

    At the entrance to the building, there will be a few tanks, each housing either atlantic sea nettle or moon jellyfish.

    To start off the Florida collection, there is a relatively large mangrove-themed tank. This tank houses snook, gag grouper, sheepshead, and spot-tail pinfish. In addition to these species, the aquarium's baby sharks and baby southern stingrays will be housed in this tank until they are large enough to live with the larger fish.

    Next in the Florida collection, a tank themed like a beach, with a large open, empty sand bed save for a bit of dead man's fingers and other macroalgaes. It would house the juvenile southern stingrays once they are too large for the tank above (they would again be moved out once too large), along with atlantic stingrays, atlantic needlefish, and mojarras.

    To continue the Florida theme, a tank housing nothing but atlantic menhaden would be in the complex. It would be themed like the underwater part of a dock, with a piling or two with barnacles and oyster shells all over them.

    Keeping with Florida natives, a very long tank would be next, designed as a beach theme. There would be strong current, and a bit of shells and macroalgae everywhere - for the most part, it would be very open though. Species inside are florida pompano, atlantic needlefish, palometa, sea robin, and hermit crabs.

    The last tank in the Florida theme would be a tank set up as a salt marsh. Species inside are southern flounder, spot, sand perch, pigfish, and atlantic croaker. Pencil urchins and purple sea urchins would also live in this tank.

    So the next series of tanks will be the tropical tanks. I'm tired of writing full paragraphs and bolding everything, so here's a list by tank.

    The large round stingray tank, practically empty save for a tiny bit of rock.
    • Southern stingray
    • Roughtail stingray
    • Pelagic stingray
    • Cownose ray
    • Bullnose ray
    • Butterfly ray
    • Giant guitarfish
    • Zebra shark
    • Blacktip reef shark
    The touch tank, with a figure-8 shape and a bit of rock ledges for the sharks and sedentary rays to hide under if necessary.
    • Brown banded bamboo shark
    • White spotted bamboo shark
    • Epaulette shark
    • Coral catshark
    • Zebra bullhead shark
    • Bonnethead shark
    • Leopard whipray
    • Cownose ray
    One of a few reef tanks, this one would be the largest.
    • Various stony and soft corals
    • Tridacna clams and bubble tip anemones
    • Coral banded shrimp, hermit crabs, trochus snails, and brittle starfish
    • Ocellaris clownfish
    • Flame hawkfish
    • Pyjama cardinalfish
    • Green clown goby
    • Yellow clown goby
    • Yellow watchman goby
    • Yellow eye kole tang
    • Yellow tang
    • Blue tang
    • Pink skunk clownfish
    • Bartlett's anthias
    • Banggai cardinalfish
    • Blue streak basslet
    • Sixline wrasse
    A large artificial reef tank, somewhere around 1,500 gallons.
    • Flame angelfish
    • Annularis angelfish
    • Maculosus angelfish
    • Queen angelfish
    • Green chromis
    • Blue damselfish
    • Yellowtail blue damselfish
    • Three striped damselfish
    • Matted filefish
    • Scribbled rabbitfish
    • Porcupinefish
    • Dogface pufferfish
    • Yellow tang
    • Blue tang
    • Naso tang
    • Sailfin tang
    • Unicorn tang
    • Vlamingi tang
    • Assasi triggerfish
    • Niger triggerfish
    • Blue spotted triggerfish
    • Snooty wrasse
    • Paddlefin wrasse
    • Bicolor parrotfish
    • Princess parrotfish
    The pacific shark tank. This would be a rather large tank, and an artificial reef too.
    • Whitetip reef shark
    • Tesselate moray eel
    • Honeycomb whipray
    • Emperor snapper
    • Fiji blue devil damselfish
    • Lookdown
    • Hawaiian striped squirrelfish
    • Giant trevally
    • Pilotfish
    • Bluefin trevally
    Another reef tank, that would be around 200 gallons.
    • Royal gramma
    • Yellow tang
    • Powder blue tang
    • Leopard wrasse
    • Golden rhombiod wrasse
    • Ocellaris clownfish
    • Candy basslet
    • Anthias (lyretail, carberryi, ignitus, purple queen, resplendent, red saddled, bartlett's)
    • Maxima clam, skunk cleaner shrimp
    • Trochus and nassarius snails
    • Scarlet reef and blue leg hermit crabs
    • Various stony and soft corals
    Another tank around 200 gallons, would have a lot of clownfish and a lot of anemones.
    • Bubble tip anemones
    • Percula clownfish
    • Starry blenny
    • Skunk cleaner shrimp, maxima clam
    A large tank, pretty much the only coldwater tank in the aquarium. Would have a lot of rocks and perhaps a bit of kelp, be it real or artificial.
    • Giant pacific octopus
    • Purple sea urchin
    • Shiner perch
    • Striped seaperch
    • Anemones (plumose, tube, fish eating, painted, and strawberry)
    One of two seahorse/seadragon tanks in the aquarium. Lots of seagrasses here!
    • Weedy seadragon
    • Leafy seadragon
    • Pot-bellied seahorse
    • Weedy pipefish
    • Red seaperch
    • Snipefish
    • Pineapple fish
    • French hogfish
    The other seahorse tank, mostly rocks and some plants.
    • Lined seahorse
    • Dragonface pipefish
    • Masked goby
    • Goldspot goby
    A cool-water shark tank, where the sharks are able to swim between the tank with underwater viewing and the tank that people are able to touch them in.
    • Spotted gully shark
    • Leopard shark
    • California horn shark
    • Leopard catshark
    • Pyjama catshark
    • Shovelnose guitarfish
    • Port jackson shark
    Finally, there are a series of a few tanks from the Amazon rainforest/river.

    First in the amazon series is the freshwater stingrays. It is pretty bare, with a bit of low-lying plants and a few pieces of wood. Species housed are
    • Henlei stingray
    • Leopoldi stingray
    • Tiger stingray
    • Angelfish
    • Giant brochis catfish
    • Adonis pleco
    • Blue eyed panaque
    • Banded lepornus
    • Elongate hatchetfish
    • Silver dollar
    • Silver arowana
    Next is a tank with lots of leafy plants and some branchy wood pieces. The only species in here is red belly piranha
    Next tank is a relatively uncommon fish to see in public aquariums. This fish, the payara, is housed in a tank that's got essentially nothing but some large rocks on the bottom and a strong current.
    Next tank is a tank housing the infamous electric eel. Also in this tank are penguin tetras, lemon tetras, and red eye tetras. A few large stumps in this tank, along with a few thinner branches, will provide plenty of cover for the eel along with the tetras.
    The final tank in here is the stereotypical Amazon tank. It will be a flooded forest, much like Singapore's River Safari. Species housed in here are:
    • Arapaima
    • Black pacu
    • Redtail catfish
    • Short tailed river stingray
    • Flagtail prochilodus
    • Tiger shovelnose catfish
    • Piraiba catfish
    • Silver arowana
    • Golden dorado
    • Niger catfish

    So, that's all for the main aquarium building. On to the birds and a few others.
     
  4. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    Nah, I'm just kidding - did you think I wouldn't include a large shark tank here? The big shark tank will be for the most part Florida natives. I'd love to keep a tiger shark, however that would require an insanely massive tank (around double the size of this tank), and would cost a lot of extra money. So here's the list of species in the big tank, along with a layout.

    The tank has a tunnel inside of it that pretty much spans the entire length of the tank. One side has a clearly visible shipwreck, which fish will inevitably swim inside of and use as structure - for this reason, the shipwreck will be very close to the tunnel. The other side will progressively get more and more open as the tunnel goes on. Once you enter the tunnel, there will be artificial reef structure right next to you - by the end, there will be a bit of scattered rocks on the bottom, at the maximum. In the beginning there will be bright shining lights over the tank, near the end it will be darker and bluer. Enough babbling, here's a species list:

    Sharks
    • Sand tiger shark
    • Sandbar shark
    • Nurse shark
    • Blacknose shark
    • Grey reef shark
    • Galapagos shark
    • Scalloped hammerhead shark

    Other Large Fish Species (also native gamefish that reach a moderate to large size)
    • Green moray eel
    • Giant moray eel
    • Tesselata moray eel
    • Great barracuda
    • Southern stingray
    • Tarpon
    • Goliath grouper
    • Black grouper
    • Red grouper
    • Sawfish
    • Jack crevalle
    • Red snapper
    • Cobia
    • Black drum
    • Sheepshead
    • Greater amberjack
    • Red drum
    • Horse eye jack
    • Spotted eagle ray

    Smaller Filler Fish
    • Florida pompano
    • Atlantic spiny lobster
    • Lookdown
    • French angelfish
    • Sergeant major
    • Atlantic spadefish
    • Banded butterflyfish
    • Foureye butterflyfish
    • Reef butterflyfish
    • Cocoa damselfish
    • Orange spotted filefish
    • Queen parrotfish
    • Princess parrotfish
    • Stoplight parrotfish
    • Long spined porcupinefish
    • Creole fish
    • Scrawled filefish
    • Atlantic menhaden
    • Red hind
    • Threadfin herring
    • Rooster hogfish

    People who view this tank will have four options.
    1. Walk on the edges of the tunnel on their own
    2. Ride the conveyor belt through the tunnel
    3. View it through a few medium-sized viewing windows
    4. For a fee, do a supervised SCUBA dive inside of the tank with instructors
     
  5. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    One thing that I would like to do with the park is have designated animals who will be taken in from owners who can't keep them anymore, and keep them for show purposes. This would educate visitors at the aquarium, as well as provide extra income - we could do things like birthday parties and school events. The animals that I would have on a large portion of the zoo (off exhibit) are:

    Birds
    • Barbary falcon
    • Blue fronted amazon parrot
    • African grey parrot
    • Scarlet macaw
    • Kookaburra
    • Catalina macaw

    Reptiles
    • 2 Albino burmese pythons
    • Boa constrictor
    • Ball python
    • Milk snake
    • California kingsnake
    • Spotted python
    • 3 baby-juvenile american alligators
    • Leopard tortoise
    • Red footed tortoise

    Invertebrates
    • Rose hair tarantula
    • Madagascar hissing cockroaches

    Mammals
    • Owl monkey
    • Squirrel monkey
    • White throated capuchin
    • Ring tailed lemur
    • Bennett's wallaby
    • 2 fennec foxes
    • Coatimundi
    • Striped skunk
    • 2 african pygmy hedgehogs
    • Chinchilla
    • Hairless rat
    • Angora hamster
    • American porcupine
    • Geoffry cat
    • Serval
    • 2 bactrian camels
    • 3 dromedary camels
     
  6. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    Throughout the park, there will be a few random exhibits. Some in gift shops, some in the entrance area, they'll be all over the place. Here's the list of what they will hold.

    Freshwater wall tank with lots of driftwood and a few plants.
    • Giant snakehead
    • Tinfoil barb
    • Giant gourami

    Large vivarium, made to look like ancient ruins of a temple.
    • King cobra

    Large planted vivarium made to look like the Amazon rainforest, complete with a waterfall.
    • Golden eyelash viper
    • Strawberry poison dart frog
    • Golden poison dart frog

    Large savannah-themed vivarium, likely to have a naturalistic watering hole in it
    • Black mamba

    Large rainforest vivarium, complete with large pool that has underwater viewing
    • Green basilisk lizard
    • Yellow anaconda

    Large New Guinea-themed rainforest exhibit complete with waterfall emptying into stream which goes to a large pool
    • Green tree monitor
    • Blue tree monitor
    • Black tree monitor

    Wall tank set up to look like a cloud forest in South America
    • Waxy monkey tree frog

    Large outdoor cage
    • Black "panther"

    Large outdoor cage
    • Indochinese tiger
    • White bengal tiger
     
    Last edited: 13 May 2016
  7. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    Finally, we will go onto the park's birds. First up, we have australian black swans in a large pond as soon as you walk into the park. Koi also share this pond, and native waterbirds will also come and go as they please.

    A very large exhibit made up of an African savannah, complete with a very large watering hole, is one of the main bird exhibits. This large yard will house all birds, consisting of pink backed pelicans, sacred ibis, saddle billed stork, grey necked crowned crane, african spoonbill, lesser flamingo, secretary bird, marabou stork, goliath heron, and southern ground hornbill. Obviously, most of this exhibit will be the watering hole. Sable antelope and grevy's zebra can also be found in this large yard.

    Conveniently located near the African safari exhibit would be a few medium-large tanks housing freshwater fish and some reptiles. First up is a tank housing Lake Tanganyika cichlids. There will be an aquarium housing African lungfish, and vivariums housing emperor scorpion, african bullfrog, african giant millipede, african rock python, green mamba, shield tailed agama, tropical girdled lizard, pancake tortoise, plated lizard,ball python, hingeback tortoise, jacksons chameleon, and banded egyptian cobra. There are a few multi species vivariums, one housing african dwarf crocodile and african mud turtle. There will be another one housing gaboon viper and rhinoceros viper. There will finally be an exhibit housing nile crocodile. The final tank is one housing african mudskippers.

    Once you finish looking in the safari lodge-themed fish/reptile area, you walk through a lushly planted tropical aviary. This houses great blue turaco, congo peafowl, madagascar crested ibis, superb starling, white faced whistling duck, south african shelduck, african grey parrot and senegal parrot. Bongo can also be seen in this area.

    There will be a small area focusing on birds of prey (along with one bird that's not so much a bird of prey, but still a scavenger) that will have andean condor, king vulture, turkey vulture, southern caracara, great horned owl, and african pied crow.

    A small aviary can be seen that houses a few smaller south american birds. These are andean cock-of-the-rock, scarlet ibis, spangled cotinga, orinoco goose, red capped cardinal, crimson bellied conure, and blue throated conure.

    There will be a walk-through aviary here, an Australian themed one. It will house cockatiel, budgerigar, rainbow lorikeet, dusky lory, red lory, bourke's parrot, australian king parrot, and eclectus parrot. Feeding the parrots in this aviary will be allowed for a small fee.

    All of the other sections will be aviaries with thin wire - sort of like the outdoor bird collection at the National Zoo in DC. These will house many birds, almost all of which are parrots (I believe there are 4 that are not). Full species list is here:
    • Umbrella cockatoo
    • Palm cockatoo
    • Sulphur-crested cockatoo
    • Major mitchells' cockatoo
    • Moluccan cockatoo
    • Red fronted macaw
    • Greenwing macaw
    • Golden collared macaw
    • Blue and gold macaw
    • Chestnut fronted macaw
    • Scarlet macaw
    • Military macaw
    • Hyacinth macaw
    • Cuban amazon parrot
    • Blue fronted amazon parrot
    • Orange winged amazon parrot
    • Red tailed amazon parrot
    • Red lored amazon parrot
    • Hawk headed parrot
    • Black headed caique
    • Fischer's lovebird
    • Bronze winged pionus
    • Toco toucan
    • Channel billed toucan
    • Red billed hornbill
    • Black hornbill

    This concludes the full overview of the Bonita Springs Aquarium and Bird Park. Feel free to ask any questions you have, and I hope you enjoyed!
     
    Last edited: 13 May 2016
  8. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    A few new additions to the aquarium:

    One is adding the bonefish and the ladyfish to the southern and atlantic stingray display. I was going to switch the manatee enclosure over to saltwater, but that would be a lot of work and re-placing a bunch of fish and bird species, so I won't bother. However in the manatee complex, a tank housing coachwhip will be added. Blue spotted sunfish, banded sunfish, black banded sunfish, and banded pygmy sunfish now live with the American crocodiles, who now live in an indoor exhibit. Wood ducks, belted kingfisher, red winged blackbird, purple gallinule, sandhill crane, and anhinga will now share the large netted-in aviary with the other birds and the manatees. The small cage for baltimore orioles will be taken out, and the birds will be introduced to the netted aviary as well. American river otters have been added in their own exhibit. Suwannee cooter, yellow bellied slider, peninsula cooter, and Florida red bellied turtle have been added to the (now very) large turtle tank. An exhibit housing gopher tortoises has been added, along with one housing southern leopard frog, american bullfrog, and greater siren. The final tank added here is a salt marsh with fiddler crabs, diamondback terrapins, mummichogs, marsh periwinkles, and sheepshead minnows.

    A few birds will be moving in with our current seabird population - these are the laughing gull and the black skimmer. Remember, these birds will all be rescues taken in from other rescue groups.

    There are a few other invasive species in Florida that should be added to the Everglades complex. While it doesn't fit in perfectly with the Everglades theme (although it kind of does), a tank with common lionfish will be added. A wooded outdoor cage (with only indoor viewing) will house wild boar, european starling, house sparrow, house finch and rock pigeon. Marbled swamp eel will be added to the South American cichlid tank. There will also be exhibits added for giant african land snails, gambian pouched rats, nutria/muscovy ducks, monk parakeets, boa constrictor, and veiled chameleon.

    Another thing that I want to do is add a tank of sally lightfoot crabs into the aquarium. This would be a beach tank, with rough black rocks jutting out over the water, and a current pushing water around randomly.

    The end of the aquarium will feature a large exhibit featuring one of the best jellyfish collections/exhibits in the world. In addition to the Atlantic Sea Nettles and Moon Jellyfish, there will be Crystal Jellyfish, Flower-Hat Jellyfish, Upside-Down Jellyfish, Blubber Jellyfish, Spotted Lagoon Jellyfish, White Spotted Jellyfish, Pacific Sea Nettle, Purple-Striped Jellyfish, Black Sea Nettle, Egg Yolk Jellyfish, Comb Jellyfish, Umbrella Jellyfish, Lion's Mane Jellyfish (very proud to display these), Mediterranean Jellyfish, Japanese Sea Nettle, Malaysian Sea Nettle, Gregarious Jellyfish, and the Blue Jellyfish. This is 20 species, I do not know of any collection that is able to rival this.

    A seagrass tank housing purple rhinopias will be added, as this is a very interesting fish species that tends to captivate anybody who looks at it.

    A tank set up like a tide pool housing caribbean reef octopus is another tank that will be added in. Blue rings are very cool, but don't live long unfortunately. Reef octopuses don't live long either, but they're readily available. The other cephalopod species I want to add is the Pharaoh cuttlefish.

    One species that I want to experiment with keeping is a sea snake tank. This would be a shallow lagoon-like tank, with a cave made from the same rock as in the sally lightfoot crab tank, that is accessible both in and out of the water. There will be a beach accessible to them as well. Species kept will be yellow bellied sea snake and banded sea krait.

    A freshwater tank will be added, and that is the Mekong River tank. Species housed in this aquarium will be the giant gourami, giant snakehead, paroon shark, and the giant freshwater stingray. Off in a side tank, asian arowana will be displayed (with CITES permits of course) alongside tiger barbs, bumble bee catfish, three spot gourami, and juvenile clown knifefish - once these get too large for the arowana tank, they will be moved into the Mekong tank. The tank housing snakehead, gourami, and barbs under the "random exhibits" post will be removed.

    Crested porcupines, fennec foxes, african softshell turtles, african spot necked otters, and black and white colobus monkeys are to be added to the "Safari Lodge" of the small African area, where all of the other reptiles and such are located. Also to be added are a multi-species desert enclosure housing pancake tortoise, rainbow skink, african girdled lizard, schneider skink, and gorongosa girdled lizard, as well as an aquarium housing african tigerfish, goliath tigerfish, nile bichir, giraffe catfish, and african arowana.

    Violet turaco, knysna turaco, african green pigeon, red and yellow barbet, von der decken's hornbill, mangrove kingfisher, and african pygmy kingfisher will be added to the tropical African walk-through aviary. African darter will be added to the large african bird exhibit.

    Harpy eagle will be introduced in the vicinity of the other birds of prey, as will bateuleur eagle and african fish eagle. Painted storks will now co-habitate the front pond with the black swans. Crimson rosella, zebra finch, gouldian finch, and diamond dove are to be added to the Australian walk-through aviary. The Australian aviary will be made a good deal larger, probably doubled, and a near invisible divider will be placed in the middle. The new section will be Indonesian walk-through aviary. Species housed will be victoria crowned pigeon, pesquet's parrot, bali mynah, jambu fruit dove, luzon bleeding heart dove, rhinoceros hornbill, temminck's tragopan, satyr tragopan, asian fairy bluebird, and knobbed hornbill. Keel-billed toucan will be added to the collection of "random" birds (the one that is mostly macaws and cockatoos).

    To finish things off, one final exhibit will be added. This will be a large climate-controlled area, with underwater viewing and plenty of space for birds that are included here. Fly river turtles are the main species in the water, accompanied by australian lungfish, praecox rainbowfish, and boesmani rainbowfish. Gang gang cockatoos will live on the land section of this exhibit, likely to be located near the entrance or near the Australian aviary.
     
    Last edited: 17 May 2016
  9. jayjds2

    jayjds2 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Where do you plan to get your indochinese tigers?

    Also, I'm really liking your African sections.
     
  10. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    I'm not really sure. They are the most beautiful subspecies of tiger, so that's the only real reason I put them. Seems as if there are between 600 and 650 of them left, and nobody actually breeds them (of the 14 that are in captivity), so they are likely going to be out of the question unfortunately.
    My second favorite, the South China tiger, isn't going to be an easy one to get. Neither will my third favorite, the Sumatran. So it's now between Bengals, Malayans, and Siberians.
    Malayans are not as common as bengals in the US, but it appears that zoos here have had success with breeding them - if it's not possible to get any of my favorites (Indochinese, South China, Sumatran, or Malayan) I would go with another bengal. The white bengal will be there either way - rescuing it from someone who needs to rehome a tiger is a good option. White tigers are perhaps my favorite of the cats.

    Thanks for the compliment on the African selection. I like the hoofstock myself, I think it adds a bit of spice to the bird collection. Sables are incredible-looking animals.
     
  11. jayjds2

    jayjds2 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Sumatran probably wouldn't be too hard to get. You may have to wait to build that section until you are accredited, but after that, the three US focuses (Malayan, Amur, Sumatran) would be a breeze.

    Also, some notes on your additions (post #8):

    Greater frigate bird, if I remember correctly, is an extremely hard species to keep alive in captivity. I could be wrong, though. If you get a rescued bird, there's a better chance (so good planning).

    As for the sally lightfoot crabs: do you want the true ones from the Galapagos, or the Percnon gibbesi which is often called that but is something completely different? The former is borderline unobtainable, while the latter is a common pet.

    There are reasons blue ringed octopuses are quite rare. Not only are they insanely dangerous, they are hard to obtain (nobody wants to collect them) and they only live about six months.

    Sea snakes/kraits would be fine, if precautions are taken. They are rare in captivity, because of certain regulations (must produce antivenom, etc.) and you'd have to import some. Sadly, the only place in the US with them (Aquarium of the Pacific) had them off exhibit when I visited. :(.
     
  12. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    Firstly, check out that post again, because I added a few species in that I forgot.
    Frigatebirds appear to be very difficult to keep, as they are pretty much a pelagic species. The plan is to rescue one from a bird sanctuary, but either way that doesn't make them easier to keep. I'm going to edit them off of the list right now, it's not a bird that would really fit in with the other birds in the enclosure.
    The goal is to get the true sally lightfoot crabs, not the one you buy for your aquarium. Pretty much everything from the Galapagos is difficult to obtain, if not impossible, I might as well at least try to get them. Who knows, by the time I can actually build this Ecuador's export ban may be up.
    The pharaoh cuttlefish is a very interesting cephalopod. Perhaps I will add in a few of those, along with a caribbean reef octopus tank. Time to add them to the post.
    That sucks about missing those sea snakes. The main reason I want to try and keep them is because not too much is known. There are a few places that keep them, and it would be interesting to be successful.
     
  13. FelipeDBKO

    FelipeDBKO Well-Known Member

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    I think that there are even some Blue-ringed octopuses in captivity as pets.
     
    Last edited: 16 May 2016
  14. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    I'm pretty sure there are a few, but definitely not many. Like Jay said, nobody wants to collect them because of how risky it is. IMO it's not really worth it - by the time you get it shipped all the way over from Australia, there's a good chance it's not going to be alive.
     
  15. FelipeDBKO

    FelipeDBKO Well-Known Member

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    I think that the animals kept as pets are in Australia.
     
  16. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    You do realize that you're not actually designing anything, rather just making up lists of animals you like.
     
  17. jayjds2

    jayjds2 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    That is correct. If blue ringed octopuses make their way into the states (unsure about other countries), pet dealers often refuse to sell them due to the danger.
     
  18. Macaw16

    Macaw16 Well-Known Member 5+ year member

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    Malayans are more common, considering that there are no Bengals outside of the Indian Subcontinent! What you know as Bengals are just hybrid subspecies, often inbred to get white and other unnatural coat patterns.
     
  19. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    I think I saw someone in Australia who had one. I would have to check though, I think there's a video somewhere.
     
  20. 1 and only Drew

    1 and only Drew Well-Known Member

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    That's very interesting, I never actually knew that. Very cool, thanks for sharing!