We were only allowed two hours to see the place (everyone but me was done
in less than 60 mins.), but I sucked those two hours for all they were worth.
The natives display has nice physical surroundings- a gravel footpath,
boulders making up the outsides of the displays, but I thought the
displays themselves were only moderately good. Species seen: paddlefish;
sturgeon; bluegill; rockbass; a gruesomely overstocked tank of channel
cats; largemouth bass; gar; flathead cats, and a few other large species
that I wasn't familiar enough with to deem worthy of remembering :) No
bowfin, surprisingly. Overall, I would've rather seem more biotyope tanks,
more nongame species, and fewer of the well-knowns that can be caught on
hook and line in most of the watersheds in America. I guess that's what we
have to sacrifice to get the boulders and gravel path.
Though I didn't take any mental notes on much else in the facility, I can
say that the only disease I saw was one discus with hole in the head like
you wouldn't believe. Notable exhibits were the Amazon display with the
same design as the Mississippi version, sea otters, a walk through tunnel
in the Caribbean reef, and a rather large collection of jellies.
Though I'm a tough critic, my visit was extremely enjoyable.
Travis Haas
Hazel Green, Wisconsin
At 09:04 AM 3/27/02 -0600, Sajjad wrote:
>Just returned from Toledo, OH (business trip). I took some time off to
>visit the Toledo Zoo and managed to visit it for a few hours, this past
>Sunday, before the freak snow storm hit. It's a very beautiful place.
>
>The Aviary is awesome. There were exhibits in which you could walk through
>a bio-type with birds flying around you.
>
>The Aquarium was even better (but I am biased towards fish anyway). IMHO,
>it's better maintained than the Shedd here. Each tank was beautifully
>aquascaped (but, I guess it is understandable that the piranha tank and
>the Arapaima tanks were not too aquascaped :). Lots of native fishes on
>display - brackish Fundulus sp in a correct biotype, sturgeon, huge black
>crappie, walleye (even a mention of the blue walleye in the blurb), a huge
>alligator snapping turtle, a four pound bluegill. They also have a
>walk-through display of the Amazon rainforest complete with pools with
>arrowana, cichlids, red-tail catfish, terrestrial birds that were fighting
>with each other, and a sloth but I didn't see it.
>
>There were some pretty rare fish in there - a seadragon, some fish which
>live at 1800' below, etc.
>
>Odd things: Angelfishes with neon tetras (and no neons to be seen, I
>wonder those angels seemed so full and happy :). Glass catfish and
>glassfish (Chanda ranga) in the same part of the display as the saltwater
>fish - probably for special care.
>
>If you are near Toledo, I highly recommend a visit.
>
>Sajjad Lateef
>NANFA - Chicago
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org