Season passes to The Shedd Aquarium

[RamJet]

I just forked over $95.00 for season passes for the Shedd. Which is cool and all, but saw a few things that I didnt really like. First off, I knew more about what I was looking at than the help did. They had a small reef tank that was overtaken with bristle worms, really fake looking corals in very unnatural colors, and a fish with one forth of its body gone. (Which untill I pointed it out to them, they had know idea about.) Next time I will be sure to take my camera too share the wonders of it all. I was pretty dissapointed with it, I thought it would be much better than what it was.

 

[Adrinal]

Where is this?

 

[crazie.eddie]

I'm assuming the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago? Only Shedd Aquarium I know of.

 

[Great Lakes]

Ram, I have been meaning to go for years now. The last time I was gonna, but by the time I finished MNH across the street, it was too late.I had to go to the MNH after seeing Relic.

GL

 

[RamJet]

Yes, the Shedd in Chicago. I was told that it was much better in the past, and that it has been going down hill. Most of the staff have no idea what they are looking at and most of the interactive computers didnt work. They also had reef tanks with no real corals in them, all plastic. The funny thing was that there were people taking photos of the plastic coral and commenting on how pretty it was, I just wanted to die.

 

[ostrow]

RamJet: you should join CMAS and get the behind-the-scenes tour. The "staff" on the floor often know little. But the Aquarium professional staff are superb.

Yes, much of the reef exhibit is replica coral, but most of it I found to be quite realistic, at least the best you'll find anywhere. Their live coral exhibits are quite good. They have an admirable approach that all in the hobby should follow, indeed IMO there should be federal laws controlling (banning) the import and sale of reef rock, corals and fish. The Shedd uses exclusively aquacultured corals.

The reef exhibit as you must know is new. If you saw one fish that was in ill-repair, remember that their tanks are enormous, with many thousands of fish of all types. You have no way of knowing how the fish you saw reached the condition it was in. By no means does your report indicate disease, maltreatment, or any other problems. I do not recall any tanks that were overrun with bristleworms, though worms were certainly evident in most of the sand in the exhibits. What's wrong with that?

The Shedd is a fantastic place and always improving -- at least in my 38 years of experience with them. I wonder where you would find a better reef exhibit without going diving on an actual reef?

 

[RamJet]

I think that thats my problem, I have been diving since I was 15 and have been in many waters. I did however visit the Mega Mall in Minnesota, they have Under Water World there. I felt it was much better than the Shedd, but with hind site, I think I was being to hard on the Shedd.
As far as the Bristle Worms, they were extreamly bad in one of the tanks. Very large and all over the place. One of the floor staff tried to tell me that they were brittle star legs. I had to show him the difference between the two.
I will also join CMAS, thankyou Ostrow, I didnt know they offerd the behind the scenes tour.
I did enjoy seeing Bubba, man-o-man what a fish. I had Grouper for dinner that night.

 

[Erika_4404]

sorry to hear you had a bad experience... just a silly question how can yoou tell the diffrence between the two? because my husand think we have a brittl star and i'm tell no we don't they are worms, he ssem to think he saw it crawling on the glass but i don't know, ... thanks

 

[RamJet]

well, I have young brittle stars all over my reef and they are all white in color. They only come out when it is dark and the pumps are turned off. Bristle worms on the other hand usually only come out at night, unless you have a large amount in your tank, if there is not enough food for them in the tank, you will start seeing them come out during daylight hours. Brittle star legs taper more than Bristle worms, and have fewer hairs on them which are also more corse. When the worm moves, it streaches its body out like a earthworm will. Mean wile a star will do more of a walk, and bend its legs. Now, if a star is reaching for something, you will see its legs doing more of a curling, twisting motion, wile the worm will usually stay against the rock or sand and streach straight tword the food. Hope that helps.