World's largest, 'most unique' aquarium set to open in Atlanta

[Georgia Peach]

Good Point - I am in middle Ga and the Aquarium is about 100 miles north from me. We really dont get alot of the bad stuff from hurricaines, but it is getting more and more fierce as the years tick by.
I agree though that Atlanta wasnt the best choice even though I am very proud to live so close...

Originally Posted by mlefev

It sounds wonderful, but I have to agree on questioning people sticking fish in a man-made environment. Still, people need to see and experience how wonderful nature is to really appreciate what's out there. Maybe it will teach some valuable lessons about the sea-creatures on the planet.

I still have to question sticking it in georgia though...hurricane territory. If the meteoroligists are correct, there are a good 10 years of nasty storms that will approach the gulf coast states. If I was to build something like this, I would seriously consider moving it into the interior of the US.

[garfieldnfish]

Well, I went there yesterday evening. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes from the time I parked until I had my season pass in my hand. You had to have purchased your ticket already and needed to have an appointment to go there. If you just showed up without an appointment you would have been turned away. I stood in line at a quarter past 6, I had a 7 pm appointment and they closed at 9 pm. But I ran through it pretty quick and saw all the exhibits, except the movie and the tours. But you had to fight a crowd and I will definitely go back next month when the initial rush has leveled off some.
The set up is spectacular. Some of it was impressive but like everything in Atlanta made to make money. 2 gift shops, you pay extra for the movie and the behind the scene tours etc.
While they have the whales sharks and the beluga whales and a few other really cool critters, I expected more variety. They may have 100.000 fish but you will find that the schools of fish are very large but the majority of the fish are the same kind. I am a great fan of the Tennessee aquarium and if you have seen both, the Tennessee one is more pleasing and has a much larger diversity of fish, especially since Tennessee has recently added a second building with salt water tanks.
I have the season ticket for this season but I doubt I will get it again next year as I will probably rather drive the hour to Chattanooga and actually observe fish rather then be entertained by the tourism industry and listen to soothing music instead of seeing a variety of fish. For instance, I only saw 2 royal plecos. There were a handful of freshwater fish in one aquarium that acutally sported some live plants, some fish you find at Walmart and a few otos. But to be fair I did rush through it and may have missed a lot. But my first impression is, it's larger, more expensive but I came away comparing the two aquariums and Tennessee won in my eyes.

[eon17]

poor whale sharks...................

[Scuba Kid]

Not really....
Why do you insist on posting pointless comments? EVERYWHERE?

[mayastarocker]

I think I heard it on ABC News on 13 about it. They had video and it looked awesome. I want to go sooooo bad!!!!!!!

[bamafoev]

i've been there its not as cool as you would think but still pretty awesome

[Kyoberr]

That looks so awesome. The only link that worked for me is the one that led me to the main website. That would be a ton of fun to go to sometime...

[kuhliloach]

have any pics?

[Maximus]

I heard on the news several months ago that they now have 4 whale sharks there. The other two were rescued from China or Japan (I forget which) because they were being hunted. I don't see the problem with them keeping whale sharks there, if they're in good health and all. It'll give us an opportunity to study a rarely seen animal, insight in how to further protect them in the wild, figure out how to breed them in captivity perhaps, and maybe someday help keep their population numbers healthy. I'd much rather see that being done than to see them being slaughtered into soup and sold on the black market.

I must make my way down to Atlanta soon