DAVID MARSHALL: AQUATIC EXHIBITS AT BRISTOL ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS

The entrance to the Zoological Gardens

The Bristol 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 a wide variety of animals from throughout the world, 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.' The secret of success here is that every inch of ground is utilised to full effect be it an amazing animal enclosure, a beautiful landscaped garden or simply a place to rest.

If you enter the zoo at the main entrance the first aquatic exhibits you will find are at ‘Twilight World’ (at the entrance look out for the New Zealand Mountain Parrots, who look as mean as their reputation for destruction suggests). Once your eyes have adjusted to the dark you are surrounded by a host of ground-living and flying mammals that literally live for the night. Fish exhibits are limited to a large aquarium that accommodates an equally large Marbled Clarias and a smaller aquarium - home to a community of Butterfly Goodeids.

The main aquatic exhibits are housed in the aquarium building, and here you find 18 aquaria that range greatly in size and dimensions. I enjoyed the new ‘loop film’ that tells you about the conservation work and day-to-day duties carried out by the zoo’s aquarist.

The Zoo Aquarium

The first four 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 white clawed crayfish, Potosi pupfish, African crater lake cichlids 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, which includes Sterlets, American Paddlefish, Barbel and various Gars.

Now we stand in front of what for me is always the highlight of the aquarium, in the form of an East-Asian biotope. What a fantastic array of fish we find here including a large shoal of clown loaches, two huge giant gouramis, silver sharks, Pangassius catfish, dragon fish (bred at the zoo) and the largest Myxcioprinus asciaticus on display in the U.K. I stood for ages just watching this community in awe.

Dragon Fish and Giant Gourami

The next large aquarium is a nicely set-out brackish display, the occupants of which include scats and fingerfish. A piranha community follows and leads us nicely into the Amazon flooded forest exhibit that takes you between 'mock trees', where you find black bacu, various loricarins, silver dollars and a large number of flier cichlids 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 Motoro stingrays I have seen. The final biotope takes us to Lake Malawi and here we find a huge range of mbuna who have a giraffe catfish and a huge lungfish for company. On our second look around of the day Sue and I were fortunate enough to see feeding time here and this was a sight to remember.

As you will see from the photograph that follows the final exhibits are beautifully arranged tropical marine aquariums.

One of the tropical marine displays

Very close to the aquarium is the equally spectacular reptile house. Here a waterfall runs down into a large pool that is split into three sections. The first section had me spellbound as it houses some of the largest Thai carp I have seen for many years. Watch for the large clown knifefish as it is so well camouflaged that it is easy to miss. The other two sections are home to various colour forms of African zebra cichlids. Some wonderful crocodilians and other water living reptiles and amphibians are also on display.

In ‘Bug World’ a new section of aquaria dedicated to tropical and native marine coral habitats have been created. The highlight for me was an amazing blue lobster and the condensation on the glass showed the cold conditions in which this creature has to be maintained. A ‘loop film’ highlights the peril many of our marine habitats are under as climate change etc. tightens its grip.

Each visit sees the zoo’s shoal of huge carp in a different animal enclosure moat so suspect that they are moved around to munch away at excess Elodea etc? As you read this report you will find them in the moat that surrounds the gibbon enclosure. Their moving around is probably the reason why, of all of the fish on display, these are the only ones without excellent information boards?

Finally, what you need to enjoy Bristol Zoological Gardens is plenty of time and good walking shoes. So many visitors rush around and miss the little touches, such as the iris pond, that make these gardens so special. When each visit ends, Sue and I long to return.