Under Water Aquaria KLCC
Tuesday, July 12th, 2005 at 6:51 am in Current Events
FIVE sharks swim a little quicker in their new home. A languid giant garoupa, shy moray eels and large, exotic-looking batfish, do the same - excited to see three divers, carrying pails of fish and two poles, approach them slowly. It’s lunchtime at Aquaria KLCC’s The Living Oceans, a gigantic aquarium with an underwater tunnel.
The Living Oceans’ concept is not new to most Malaysians, especially those who have been abroad. But, what makes it special is its long tunnel - made out of 90m of fibreglass. “It’s the largest in South-East Asia,â€? said Aquaria KLCC’s managing director and CEO Terry O’Boyle. â€?The longest in the world is in the United States and that measures 120m.â€?
The Aquaria will house over 3,000 marine creatures of various shapes and sizes in a simulated natural habitat. The tunnel is 1.8m high, and visitors can step on a moving walkway and stop off at different spots anytime to view animals gliding and swimming.
The 55mm-thick tunnel is curved, made to withstand an enormous amount of pressure from the 2.7 million litres of water that fills The Living Oceans’ aquarium. “The glass is custom-made in Germany. It was then shipped to New Zealand and shaped to curve the correct way, then shipped to Malaysia where it was then assembled,â€? O’Boyle said. The tunnel had to be fitted very carefully, around Aquaria’s high columns, which serve as support structures. Because of this, the moving walkway that was originally planned had to be redesigned.
Designing and installing Aquaria’s infrastructure cost in excess of RM60mil. Fishes are still being imported to stock the different aquariums there. Maintenance involves a quarantine section, filtration plants and more. To upkeep The Living Oceans, 700 litres are pumped out, cleaned and pumped back at any given time. To get the seawater’s chemistry right, a vital part of maintaining the sealife, about 80,000kg of marine salt has to be mixed into it.
As for the underwater support systems, all corals are fake, as is the reproduction of the Royal Nanhai shipwreck.
Part of that is head curator Paul Hamilton’s job. He is in charge of stocking and maintaining Aquaria’s fishes. He explained how it all started for The Living Oceans.
First, came the testing stocks - moon wrasse. “These were fish to test on.'’
The species selected for the aquarium are not endemic to a place. Hamilton said, with the exception of the sharks, the rest were from around South-East Asian waters.
The five sand tiger sharks were brought in from South Africa, and are reportedly not only coping well, but thriving, too. The largest one, a female, measuring over two metres, has even put on weight.
So far, animal handlers and divers have successfully trained the larger fishes, like the five sharks and a single, large garoupa, which has found its home on the other side of the aquarium, to being fed by divers. Once in a while, though, their predatory habits resurface and they chomp on the smaller fish.
Keeping the balance of life there is an important task and a concise science.
“We’ll be aiming for 2kg of fish per cubic metre,â€? said Hamilton “As for feeding the fishes, about 60kg of food (including other fish like mackerel) is used each day.'’
Hamilton looks after the animal husbandry, diving crew, filters, lights and support systems.
So far, The Living Oceans is habitat to 40% of the total sealife that will live in the giant aquarium. More are coming in, thrice a week, and slowly being adapted to conditions in the aquarium.
Now, the fishes that have been stocked are larger in size.
Later, the colourful species will be introduced, along with different schools of fish, more moray eels and zebra and nurse sharks.
Aquaria KLCC will house more than 5,000 freshwater and marine animal exhibits.
It also has facilities for the disabled. There are computer screens and multimedia presentations throughout the area to help educate visitors about sea life, as well. Exhibits will also place emphasis on Malaysia’s sea life, including unique species found in East Malaysian waters.
Aquaria KLCC will open for public at 20 August 2005
More information available at Aquaria KLCC
[ via TheStar ]


October 5th, 2005 at 12:16 am
am online now
October 5th, 2005 at 12:15 am
my name suzan i really need work pls pls pls anyone there to help me my fahter just pass away few mount ago i have 1 brother that working but is not enought for use i really hope some one will help me event to eat is where hard for me pls i really hope someone will come and help me pls pls pls am 19/ f / i stay in kuala lumpur am staying in damansara damai pls pls pls if anyone there want to help me can send me mail or masseje me on suzan_sally2@yahoo.com pls help me for god sake
October 1st, 2005 at 12:17 am
I think rm 38 too expensive y not put rm 20 to rm25 tat sound better… in my opinion, this project is for long run rite? if starting no one wan to go already n people will just enter once in their lifetime becoz of cost….then how this underwater business can survive???? So…pls low down the price… somemore y only mon - thu for special price? not to fri? weird…. hehe…i also wanna hv a visit but…no money hehe
September 30th, 2005 at 11:50 am
cakap banyak tak guna… datang sendiri tengok!!!!…
sure jumpa ikan yang pelik-pelik, yang kita tak penah jangka ada kat muka bumi ni… memula aku pun tak nak pegi gak, ye la macam tak penah tengok ikankan, tapi dah special aku beria-ia nak pegi, tak nak la hampakan dia… dah masuk aku lak yang rasa macam tak nak balik… ape yang boleh aku cakap… datang la reramai… sure puas ati…
September 29th, 2005 at 2:11 pm
datang ar ramai-ramai…. best giler oiiiiii….. tak tau nk story cm ner… aku dah bawak special aku kat sana… seronot tengok dia hepi sesangat… nak-nak dia memang suka ngan ikan……
September 22nd, 2005 at 2:43 pm
God, people. Has anybody gone for a snorkel or a dive before? How much does a snorkel cost? If you snorkel in your swimming pool I suppose it might cost you RM 10 and even then I think you will need to buy a kids snorkel set. How much do you pay for a bus trip to the nearest place you can see marine life and to buy or rent a snorkel set? More than RM 38 altogether. I think you should complain about paying 20 sen to go to the toilet rather than something educational and is a convenience/facility. If you cannot swim and don’t want to get wet, where can you go for this experience? Buy an aquarium/ocean life VCD for RM 10 if that makes you happy, people.
September 18th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
Ya.. the price i think it’s abit on the high site..
But then , we have to understand the costs they build the project, further more
maintain it is not like maintain a aquarium at home.
Just my 2 cents
Wing !
Out
September 14th, 2005 at 10:37 pm
Emm…As a M’sian, the price is quite high….RM 10/RM 15 is too low liow, i think RM 20 is reasonable for adult & 50% off for senior citizen is much better. May be for foreigner RM 38 is reasonable. What do your think!
September 6th, 2005 at 4:06 pm
thanks Kahsoon, for enlightening me…..
September 6th, 2005 at 2:22 pm
Hey Ker Shing, go swim in the sea maybe you can see shark, can touch also
jk