This title might belong to a 1960s sci fi movie, but it is appropriate: if I remember correctly I took my first digital camera there in 2005, I think my photos were disappointing, but I lost them all when a hard disk failed.My second visit was in April 2008 was a little better and I posted a photo of a four-eyed fish in our Gallery. Anyway I had 2 days in Chester in October, so on Monday 12th I checked the weather forecast and decided to revisit BP before heading to the zoo for lunch and hoping for a drier afternoon. The structure and layout of BP has not really changed, although the stock list has changed of course and I am afraid that some of the labelling has not kept pace. For example, in the very first exhibit, a mixed shoal of cyprinids was labelled properly, but some moderately sized sturgeons were not. I think they were sterlets, but I could be wrong. Sterlet (I think) by gentle lemur posted 30 Oct 2020 at 8:44 PM My pet hate in public aquariums is curved perspex. Cylindrical tanks, shark tunnels or hemispherical portholes are all equally frustrating for photography. They make it all but impossible to get a clear image. There are quite a lot of them at BP, I even tried to take a couple of photos, but I shouldn't have bothered. However there were some things well worth photographing behind good old plate glass. I was particularly pleased to see several species that I had read about, but never actually seen in collections or in the pet trade. The first example was the splashing tetra: I remembered seeing the label on the same tank on my earlier visits, without spotting the fish themselves. This time was different, so I did my best to get a decent shot. Splashing tetra by gentle lemur posted 30 Oct 2020 at 9:26 PM Likewise I was pleased to see a painted bullfrog and a pair of gargoyle geckos and then delighted to see a rough green snake as I remember reading about this small insectivorous species when I was a boy. Rough green snake by gentle lemur posted 30 Oct 2020 at 9:44 PM Among the fishes, the multitude of Malawi cichlids were overshadowed by a big buettikoferi and an even bigger giraffe catfish. Downstairs there were fewer opportunities for photography, the lighting in the caiman tank was dim and the mangrove tank was completely dark. The cylindrical coral reef tank was hopeless from the side, but I enjoyed shooting down from the viewing platform above the tank, trying to avoid getting reflections from the lamps in the frame. The porky puffers swimming just below the surface were fun Long-spined porcupine fish by gentle lemur posted 30 Oct 2020 at 9:44 PM The Aquatheatre has its big window for viewing the big tank which holds sharks and rays, plus morays, tarpons, trevalleys and many smaller species. I watched a diver feeding the stingrays, but my photos were poor - the lights over the different parts of the tank were all different colours and reflections of illuminated signs in the theatre made things worse. I did manage to get a couple of shots of a big moray afterwards, but I had to clone out a big red reflection with Photoshop. Does it show? Laced moray by gentle lemur posted 30 Oct 2020 at 10:10 PM I got a couple of photos of the young bamboo sharks in their nursery at the end of shark tunnel, but the venomous creatures before the cafe did not co-operate. I opted for a large americano instead of going out into the rain to look for the pelicans. I was glad that I had taken the trouble to visit the Blue Planet again, there are some good things there, but it is not my favourite public aquarium in the UK. There are more photos in the Gallery.
Great walkthrough, thanks for taking the time to write it. I've not seen splashing tetras in a public aquarium, I've always felt they really should be an excellent species for display with some good interp. What was their tank like out of interest? If it was me displaying then I'd have a shallow tank with a ton of plants above the water line, nice to breed them but it would put their breeding behavior emphasised. ZTL lists some rather nice species for this place, temple pit vipers, Chola guitarfish, and Omani blind cave fish for instance. Were they on display at all?
The splashing tetra's tank is not very large, and quite thickly planted. The water level is normal. I only saw 2 males, which were displaying to each other, but there may have been females hidden in the plants. I doubt whether it would be practical to breed them on display if you wanted to rear the fry as well. I'm afraid that ZTL is probably well out of date for BP, as indeed ZooChat has been - which is why I tried to provide some details above. I certainly didn't see the Nile Perch mentioned in ZTL, whch would have been hard to miss if it had been on show. There was an exhibit for pit vipers, but I couldn't spot them and I can't remember the species (if I could have taken a photo, I would have taken one of the label too). I might have missed a guitarfish in the big tank, which was poorly labelled, and I don't recall seeing any cave fish - although I might have switched off, knowing that I was going to see them later the same day at Chester.
Thanks, that does sound pretty good. I wouldn't imagine the fry being able to hide from the parents for too long, but at least having the possibility of egg laying would be interesting. That's understandable, though I'd like to assume that the cave fish were in a pretty prominent tank! Must have missed the nile perch of ZTL, you definitely wouldn't have missed it if it was there. Hardly likely to be a behind the scenes pet either!
