Best public aquariums?

[Sycamoron]

Future vacation planning - which public aquariums have lots of reef corals and home aquarium size fish on display? Most seem to favor penguins, seals, stingrays, dolphins and similar large animals.

 

[Clowns-corals-cats]

Omaha zoo is pretty cool

 

[Wasabiroot]

The Shedd in Chicago has a neat tidal pool exhibit with wave action. Otherwise, most extremely renowned aquariums (Georgia Aquarium, Monterey Bay, etc) have better than average saltwater exhibits.
My advice? Learn to scuba dive or snorkel and go diving. There's no substitute for being immersed in a world you don't belong, and you will see these habitats as they are naturally, while they are still around. I went on a Great Barrier Reef liveaboard for 5 days for this reason - the reef is in trouble and I wanted to see it in person.

I'm sure someone with more public aquarium experience will chime in!
:)

 

[JPM San Diego]

In San Diego we have the Birch Aquarium and Sea World. Neither is huge but both have nice collections.

 

[X-37B]

Steinhart in San Francisco.

 

[ExoS]

I have been to a bunch of aquariums. They pretty much all focus on larger specimens but they all have some amount of home aquarium sized fish and corals as well.

The best single tank I have seen is at the Georgia aquarium in Atlanta. Their coral reef tank has live corals and anemones in a tank that is something like 15 feet deep. I can’t imagine their electricity bill for the lighting needed to keep a bubble tip anemone healthy at the bottom of that tank. You can see a fair amount a home aquarium fishes like clowns hosting the nems, tangs, and even quite a few wrases. It definitely sounds like it best meets your criteria for home aquarium type stock.

But that’s just one tank. For best overall aquarium I have three contenders. The first is probably a big surprise. It’s the Wonder of Wildlife aquarium in Springfield, Missouri. You are probably wondering how such a small city can have one of the best aquariums. The answer is that it’s right next to where BassPro was founded. It’s multibillionaire owner has put serious cash into it. The layout is terrible but the displays are excellent.

A second great aquarium overall is the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. This one is a must see just for it’s historical importance. It’s aquariums have an incredible array of aquatic animals too though. It’s not just interested in the good looking species either. They have all types. If you are also into fresh water fish keeping, they have excellent displays for those too. Not much in terms of live coral though.

The third great aquarium surprised me. It’s the Ripleys Aquarium in Toronto. I know that it sounds like a complete tourist trap being a Ripleys owned for-profit property right next to the CN tower. Trust me though; it’s excellent. They have incredible displays and even a tank where you can let a cleaner shrimp clean your hand. I highly recommend it.

So those are my picks. It’s sort of funny, all my favorites are so far from the ocean.

 

[Sycamoron]

Thanks, everyone, these are great suggestions, most that I never would have thought of.

 

[snorklr]

long island aquarium in riverhead ny has a 30 ft 20,000 gallon reef thats really nice..been established many years and has some amazing growth....x2 on georgia aquarium...its massive...

 

[MNFish]

North Carolina has multiple aquariums near different beaches.

https://www.ncaquariums.com/

Not the beast for corals but in very nice places for beach vacations so it is 2 for 1.

 

[Greatreefer]

long island aquarium in riverhead ny has a 30 ft 20,000 gallon reef thats really nice..been established many years and has some amazing growth....x2 on georgia aquarium...its massive

I second Long island:


Went there years ago and was able to do a behind the scenes tour of the 20K tank.
It was pretty awesome experience.

 

[Sycamoron]

The list keeps getting better and better. Now I need more vacations.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If you plan to come up north, Ripleys Aquarium in Toronto is amazing

 

[Hydrahawk]

+3 on Georgia Aquarium. That tank is stunning!

 

[NanoBoxes]

Future vacation planning - which public aquariums have lots of reef corals and home aquarium size fish on display? Most seem to favor penguins, seals, stingrays, dolphins and similar large animals.

Toledo, OH Zoo has 2 decent sized nice reef tanks, along with their huge pacific “reef” tank with tons of fish and sharks. And the Zoo all around is a great Zoo!

 

[reefinatl]

Georgia aquarium is fantastic. Do it on a weekday morning though, it gets packed. Though not as big, and lacking on corals, the chattanooga aquarium in tennessee is actually quite nice and not so crowded.

 

[Dkmoo]

I second Long island:


Went there years ago and was able to do a behind the scenes tour of the 20K tank.
It was pretty awesome experience.

I third LI aquarium, one of the most impressive reef tanks out there.

Also the maui ocean center is good. Not as reef focused, but its Maui... im sure your enjoy that vacation anyway.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

I been to the Georgia, Tennessee, Shedd, Dallas, Houston aquariums. Most disappointing was the Houston. Most impressive was the Georgia. Most species was Shedd. If I could pick one, it would be Shedd.

Best single display tank was Dallas. Not because it was big, or because you can take a train through it. I assume it was about 500g, but it was a tank full of conspics angels. Probably 30 adults. This was about 8yrs ago. I stopped by a few years ago and they got rid of them all and the same tank was full of leaf dragons.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

Georgia aquarium is fantastic. Do it on a weekday morning though, it gets packed. Though not as big, and lacking on corals, the chattanooga aquarium in tennessee is actually quite nice and not so crowded.

Was it the Georgia or the Tennessee aquarium that had the cylinder aquarium that was two stories tall and the staircase wrapped around it? I remember it was full of lookdowns.

 

[jfoahs04]

I like Georgia and Shedd for public aquariums. Alternatively, you can fly (or drive) to a place like Key West (lots of even better spots all over the Caribbean and beyond, but Key West is easy) and do a guided snorkel trip for about the same price as admission to an aquarium. There’s no substitute for the real thing.

 

[Sean Clark]

Future vacation planning - which public aquariums have lots of reef corals and home aquarium size fish on display? Most seem to favor penguins, seals, stingrays, dolphins and similar large animals.

Georgia Aquarium, you will be amazed.