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BRISTOL: Three Places of Aquatic Interest

By David Marshall
of the Ryedale Aquarist Society, North Yorkshire, England
Aquarticles

The city of Bristol is in the south-west of England. It is often described as a 'vibrant, beautiful and fashionable city whose heart is lined with museums, art centres, science centres, elegant parks, stunning architecture, narrow streets and uncountable water features'.

During a recent holiday to Bristol, Sue and I enjoyed the following places of aquatic interest -

Bristol Zoological Gardens
The Zoological Gardens are situated in the Clifton area of the city (close to the famous Suspension Bridge) and cover a 12 acre expanse. The grounds are home to 400 species of animals, and such is the care and dedication shown by the staff towards their charges that the Good Britain Guide voted Bristol Zoo as 'Zoo of the Year 2004'.

Zoo aquarium building

The main aquatic exhibits are housed in the aquarium building, and here you find 17 aquaria which range greatly in size and dimensions. As we toured the grounds we quickly realised that the Zoo policy is 'it is better to display what you can maintain to a maximum potential rather than push space and species to the limit' and this is exactly what you will find in this building.

The first three aquariums are used to highlight the plight of freshwater habitats and the need for greater conservation efforts to be made in order to protect the Lake Victoria cichlids, rainbowfish and Central American livebearers that they house.

Now we are onto the first of several spectacular biotope aquaria and here we find a community of 'fossil fish', from several countries, that include sterlets, African arowana, American paddlefish, Hypostomus species and various gars.

The large Asian community tank

Now we stand in front of what for me was the highlight of the aquarium in the form of an East-Asian biotope. What a fantastic array of fish we find here including Probarbus julienne, shoal of clown loach, two huge giant gouramis, silver sharks, Pangasius catfish, dragon fish, black sharks and the largest lemon-finned barb I have ever seen. I stood for ages just watching this community in awe.

The next large aquarium is a nicely set-out brackish display, whose occupants include red scats and fingerfish. The first of what will be three impressive tropical marine displays (spaced out over the aquarium) follows, and all the kiddies present were 'searching for Nemo'.

The Amazon flooded forest exhibit takes you between 'mock trees', and you find black pacu, silver arowana, red-tailed catfish, Sorubim lima, Leporinus Characins and tiger shovel-nosed catfish swimming on both sides of you and above your head.

We're not finished yet, as two more excellent biotopes follow. The first of these is an Amazon black water habitat whose occupants include some of the largest Uaru I have seen, angelfish, motoro stingrays and a variety of small characins.

Lake Malawi biotope

The final biotope takes us to Lake Malawi and here we find a huge range of mbuna who have giraffe catfish and a huge lungfish for company. Sue and I were fortunate enough to see feeding time here and this was a sight to remember.

Other aquaria are 'dotted' around the Zoo and in the moat that surrounds the Gorilla Compound are some huge carp.

What you need to enjoy Bristol Zoo is plenty of time and good walking shoes. We enjoyed ourselves so much here that we made a second visit before our holiday ended.

Wildwalk
Wildwalk is part of the Bristol complex, which also includes an interactive science centre and an IMAX Cinema, which is situated close to the harbourside.

Wildwalk Building

Sue and I have never seen anything like this place, and it is a true spectacular. Using living exhibits, interactive technology and film from the B.B.C. Natural History Unit (which is based in Bristol) you are taken, at your leisure, on a tour of the natural world and Sue says 'Here we have the National Curriculum in one'.

Your tour begins with the amazing 'tree of life' and as the branches grow you are taken through a quick lesson in evolution. Highlighted are the main extinction events that leaves the words 'extinction' ringing in your ears, and as you view film of humans in space you are left haunted by the chilling word 'extinction.'

Your journey now takes you on the path of evolution, and from an explanation of how life began in the sea you are straight into the fish exhibits. After a small display of fish fossils we are into the living thing. This begins with a cube aquarium containing a shoal of tropical freshwater ghost catfish and harlequin rasboras. A lovely archerfish represents brackish environments. Two beautiful aquariums of tropical marine species follow and from the colours of the blue moon angelfish, wimple fish and common triggerfish you can quickly see how well looked after these fish are.

Displays of various plants follow, and then you are into the first part of a large conservatory that is home to a spectacular tree-top walk of temperate plants and vines. Information boards tell you exactly what you are looking at and how these plants affect our World. Steam jets water the plants, which are all in beautiful condition, and you really have to be here to see the beauty and diversity around you. As you will see from the photograph, metal barriers prevent the plants from overgrowing onto the wooden footpath.

As a central feature, a waterfall runs down into a mountain pool that is home to axolotls, sucking loaches and a huge shoal of rainbow danios. This pool is packed with healthy looking Elodea and spider plants.

Back inside the main building and we continue with the story of insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. In the education room we find a large coral reef community aquarium with a large variety of tropical marines of all shapes and colours.

Sue in the Rainforest

Finally we are into the second half of the conservatory, and this is a walk-through Amazon Rainforest. As you walk, various bushes, plants and butterflies are flying all around and birds 'hop' over the pathway. At the end of the path is a large aquarium housing plecos and characins of many sizes. Fantastic.

As we exited the building work was going on behind large sheets of wood and when this section is opened in 2006 it will contain a walk-through coral reef.

As we entered the building the assistant had said to us 'You need at least two hours to take the tour properly,' and she was right, as there is so much to see and do here.

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
This beautiful building is situated halfway between Bristol Cathedral (beautiful cafeteria) and Clifton village. There are some excellent displays here that include archaeological treasures from the local area, and a taxonomic section with stuffed animals from around the World.

At the time of our visit we were lucky as a special Ichthyosaur exhibit was in progress, with the specimens on loan from private collections, and the size of these creatures was truly amazing.

What we did not expect to find here were aquariums, so this was a fantastic bonus. These are found in the South West Nature section. The first of these contains dace, rudd and roach. Phoxinus minnows frequent the second aquarium. A single male three-spined stickleback had the full run of the third aquarium.

I would not be surprised if more aquatic delights are 'tucked away' in Bristol so if you can add any information to our article then please feel free to contact me.