Florida Native Zoo/Aquarium

Income- usually the person in charge has a set salary, voted upon by a board of some kind. If there isn't a committee, or board, or whatever, then I suppose you choose yourself- just don't make your organization look bad by feeding all the money yourself.
Competition- while I like your choice of location, I'd move to somewhere else in Florida. There aren't that many aquariums there (Clearwater, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa have the only ones that I can think of, besides Mote) so a different location would lessen competition. I don't think Mote could handle the competition- one of the two would sadly fall. Mote is also a longstanding rescue facility, therefore having two in one place is in no way ideal.
Costs- everything you have planned is going to cost money, but with varying amounts. In addition to donations from companies (if you can secure them- most places don't just give away money) you should seek donations from private donors, and charge admission that is enough to sustain your upkeep (which will be expensive-at least you don't have to mix saltwater).

 

I kind of want to interview curators of aquariums such as this (size-wise, obviously not SeaWorld-style aquariums) and see what they make per year. I would prefer to make my own salary, does something in the range of 90 thousand per year sound about correct? Seems that most curators live decent lives.

Sucks about Sarasota. I've not been in any areas around there, but I would imagine they are very similar. Bonita Springs seems to be a very nice, pretty affordable area to live. No aquariums that close, and it's a southern Gulf town - just like Sarasota. It's about 2 hours, maybe a bit less, from Mote. Housing scored a 153.3 (100 is the nation average) from bestplaces.net, and an overall score of 117.2 - not too shabby.

Honestly Mote has been there since before I've been alive (probably) and I have no right to come in and try to shut them down. So it looks like Bonita Springs might have an aquarium in the future

Upkeep is going to be relatively expensive, however water changes are very easy - something like Monterey Bay could be built, as inshore Florida's water quality is pretty good (I believe). A bit of sterilization and we're all good. I really don't want to charge an expensive admission price, but at the start it might need to be a bit high. Private donors would be nice. $40,000,000 was given to Georgia Aquarium from companie. 250 million was from Bernard Marcus, the founder of the aquarium and co-founder of Home Depot. The GA opened without a penny in debt.

 

Bump. Jay, where'd you go???

 

I'm here . I'll just point out that if Georgia Aquarium ever was in debt, Bernard Marcus would probably dish out another $250 million and call it good. If you get that kind of donor, you'd be set.

 

You plan to get 60 million to build an aquarium and have a guaranteed salary of 90 thousand a year? Unless you are personally rich (I mean filthy rich), I don't see how it can happen. If you can do it that is great, and I fully support your efforts, but unless you are rich yourself or are good friends with really rich people, I don't see it. Georgia Aquarium was a very unique situation that is unlikely to ever be replicated. The founder of Home Depot had amassed a fortune by having one of the most successful businesses in the country and he wanted to do something special for the city (Atlanta) where it all started.

I do not want to be negative and I encourage you to follow your dreams. I just think you are being completely unrealistic about the possibilities for someone starting out. Aquariums are very expensive and a more practical approach might be smaller aquariums and more birds and mammals. The original post said it would be a zoo and aquarium, but all the talk since then is of aquariums and aviaries. If it is a zoo, where are the mammals? Also why did Amazon pop in shortly after original post was only Florida?

If you are serious, a good first step might be to become a member of ZAA and start attending their annual convention to make connections. You could do the same for AZA but that is a tough group to break into and they will not consider you until your facility is already up and running (at least that is my impression, but I have no personal experience or knowledge to back this up, so take it with a grain of salt).

 

I have a followup question. You live in North Carolina which is a state sorely lacking in zoos (though the state zoo is exceptional by all appearances). Why don't you want to stay where you are and start something there?

 

Now that I think of it, your aquarium plans are similar to that of the Mississippi Aquarium, scheduled to open in 2019. I posted a thread about it a while back, but nobody seemed to notice it (or at least, nobody replied to it). Here is a good link about it: http://zoonation.org/breaking-new-mississippi-aquarium-to-open-in-gulfport-in-2019/
The aquarium plans to apply for AZA status as soon as possible after it opens. Of course, for aquariums, you can get pretty much everything without being AZA... There are plenty of fish supplying companies.

 

Alright, let's start with a reply to Jay:

It would be great to get that sort of donor, doubt it will happen though.
The Mississippi Aquarium seems awesome, and it looks like it will be EXACTLY like what I plan to someday build. And even on the same budget. Once it opens, it might be a good model to follow.

And to AZ Docent:

Which part seems the problem? The initial start-up cost or the 90 grand salary? I would personally be fine with a lower salary, that's around what I would like to make though. Can there be an owner of an aquarium who has another job? For example, can a husband and wife do split shifts working at an aquarium and working as, something like a doctor (just a random job thrown out there)? Is that even a feasible option?

It would be a mostly-Floridian-native aquarium. It is more of an aquarium with a lot of birds as well now. Think about it like this - would someone (not a Zoo aficionado, just an average person) rather go see the stuff that lives in their backyard, or even in their same country, or see animals from all over the world? And yes, sorry for the misleading title. What I meant by zoo was the semi-outdoors, walk-around feel to it versus one large building housing everything.

The reason I wouldn't do it in NC is because it's honestly not really a zoo. If I ever decided to stay in NC, I would stay where I am right now, which is Wilmington. A beach town very far in the southern part of NC. I couldn't bring myself to move further north even if I really tried. Sarasota is perhaps my favorite place in Florida, however it's got Mote. All the big Florida Cities have aquariums, zoos, something in them. Bonita Springs is a place I found on the gulf (essentially a must-have for me, if I ever move to Florida I might as well go all the way) that's not insanely expensive to live in (about half of what Naples, a city nearby, costs), and has no aquarium. NC has three state-funded aquariums that all get a lot of attention. An hour away from me is Ripley's Aquarium. Either my aquarium would quickly die, or the NC aquariums would die and whoever's bigger would win - likely me. I don't want to shut down the local aquariums.

 

Both parts. And yes your suggestion of having an outside job is a good idea and likely a necessity in the beginning. Eventually you may earn a full time salary, but 90 grand seems over the top unless it is a really large and prestigious aquarium.

 

No problem if that is what you want. However there are many successful native only facilities, including my local Arizona Sonora Desert Museum which is regarded everywhere as one of the top zoos in the country. For aquariums, the one in Albuquerque is native only (Rio Grande River to Gulf), the one in Tampa is Florida only, I believe the ones in your current state are native only? You don't have to do this of course, but it can be done and done well.

 

I would like to mainly focus on it, however a combination would interest me more. The NC aquariums are pretty much native-only, there's a few exceptions.

That's great to hear about getting another job as a backup/extra revenue. Yeah, not sure if 90 grand was right but honestly if I have another good paying job, I don't care what I'm making from the aquarium - I own a freaking aquarium! My dream is to one day, between me and a spouse, make at least $185,000 yearly. I've added two more wall tanks, and one species to the large amazon tank.

 

Okay I can't edit my posts now for some reason, so here's the changes I've made:

-Add the lince catfish and marbled pimelodid to the amazon tank; perhaps add the jau catfish.

-Added a large Mekong tank/pond with glass viewing (potentially, this is low on the list of must haves because of the size). Houses paroon shark, giant freshwater stingray, siamese carp, tiger barb, tinfoil barb, mahseer, hoven's carp, julien's golden carp, clown knifefish, indonesian datnoid, hi-fin shark, iridescent shark, asian redtail catfish, giant snakehead, and mekong giant catfish. The larger fish will be represented by one or two, possibly three specimens while the smaller ones will be represented by decent-sized shoals. The aquarium is already decent-sized, and adding another large exhibit like this will be costly.

-Added a tank housing golden dorado, red hook silver dollars, tigrinus catfish, and a south american lungfish

 

Are these animals supposed to be native to Florida, because two-toed sloths, goeldi's marmoset, and most of these other species aren't native to Florida?

 

Haha, no, they're not
I would just love to have an amazon area in the aquarium. All natives just isn't as interesting to me.

Can anyone think of any interesting species to add to the amazon rainforest exhibit? It still seems to be a bit on the boring size. I was thinking:
-Toco toucan
-Blue and gold macaw
-Squirrel monkeys (potentially in their own separate exhibit)
-Green iguana
-Mata mata
-Planted wall aquarium near the end. Houses black ghost knifefish, uaru cichlid, heckel discus, flag-tailed characin, black bar silver dollar, pink tailed chalceus, and plecos (L191 and L27)

 

Firstly, I would like to bump this to hear more ideas and feedback. I would love to include a large reptile house, however budget (60-65 mil) wouldn't allow for a reptile house to be added. Instead, some reptiles will be added into sections of the aquarium, as most areas are lacking in reptile species (excluding the manatee viewing area)

Species added, with location:
-Alligator snapping turtle; native florida section
-Green tree monitor, blue tree monitor, yellow tree monitor, black tree monitor, kordensis tree monitor; found at the entrance, in a large divided vivarium
-Eyelash viper and poison dart frogs; rainforest section
-King cobra; found in a large vivarium near the SE Asia river pond/tank
-Water moccasin and everglades rat snake; native florida section
-Green mamba and gaboon viper; found in a vivarium in the African walk-through aviary
-Veiled chameleon; vivarium inside the African walk-through aviary
-Black mamba; vivarium inside african talk-through aviary
-Timber rattlesnake, copperhead, and black rat snake; florida native section
-Waxy monkey frog; rainforest section (South American not African)
-Panamanian golden frog; rainforest section
-Giant day gecko, lined leaf-tailed gecko, and giant leaf-tailed gecko; vivarium inside of african walk through aviary

Any suggestions? Questions, comments, concerns?

 

Some more amphibians could be used. For example, you could do a South American section on Lake Titicaca, with a few aquariums, terrariums, and a bit more. There are loads of other possibilities.

 

So you have a Florida native facility, then you add Amazon, now you have African birds and snakes? Unless it is going to be a full blown around the world zoo and aquarium, I really think you need to stick to your focus. I still like the idea of Florida only, though you might be able to add other creatures if you do a section on invasive exotics. This is a big problem in Florida (think pythons in Everglades) and would certainly prove to be a good educational exhibit.

 

Yeah, I will agree with you - I got a bit too far. The large Florida swamps and invasive section is important, as are the wall aquariums. Maybe the rainforest section as well - how do you feel about adding in that, and taking everything else (most notably the African section) out? Updated *full* species list to come.

 

Just a little update. I've been thinking about it, and a large Amazon area wouldn't add much to the aquarium, just take up space. Instead, I think I will do a large native section consisting of the manatees, native birds/fish/reptiles, and the common invasive species. In addition, the aquarium would have a lot of native animals - possibly, it will be split in half, one side being a walk through Florida, and one side being the more tropical fish that people like to see. Maybe at the end, you get to see the large shark tank and then you walk out of the building. One freshwater amazon aquarium could be in here, but a large amazon exhibit is excessive.

So there's a ton of natives, along with a few tropical birds scattered through the park, and a few tropical tanks in the aquarium building.