Annual Report- 2007 - Zoo Negara

AQUARIUMAKUARIUM TUNKU ABDUL RAHMANAkuarium Tunku Abdul Rahman (ATAR) is one ofthe oldest public aquariums in this country. Thehandover of the refurbished aquarium buildingfrom the Development & Planning Committee tothe Aquarium Committee was carried out in earlyof 2007. Work on landscaping and stocking offish began soon after that as to meet the targetdate for the completion, which was in September2007, in conjunction with the 16th SEAZA annualconference.Work at ATAR for the entire 2007 was dividedinto:1. Tank preparation and landscape.All the tanks were landscaped according to theirrespective river zones to accommodate the kindof fish or the required habitat/niche of that riverzone.Tank landscape includes the use of various materialssuch as sand, gravel, wood, plants, large stonesetc, that go accordingly to the habitat/niche of thatsection of the river. Several trips were made duringthe year by the aquarium staff to gather variousmaterials suitable to mimic the natural habitat forthe various zones.2. Repair and replacement worksAlthough the new refurbished aquarium wasfunctional, we still had problems with defects inseveral areas. This included tank leakage repairs,painting of walls and barriers, replacement of bulbsand modification of lighting and wiring.3. River system MuralA mural of the entire river system was completedbefore the SEAZA conference.It depicts almost life size scenes of the varioushabitats/niches that are found along the riverstretch. These paintings are along side the tanksthat display aquatic flora and fauna of that riversection.Currently only the background painting has beencompleted. Detailing work of various flora andfauna will come in later. Among others the muralwill also be 3-dimensionalized at various areas togive a more realistic feel as to walking into a realforest. Also in the pipeline for this mural are smallhang on aquariums that would exhibit smaller fishand invertebrates (alive and preserved) and evenvarious floristic exhibits such as fruits and leavesof selected trees or shrubs.4. Fish HealthFish health in general improved satisfactory butthe Arapaima pool still had a problem with itscurrent filtration system. The inability to cope withthe high loads of waste caused deterioration in thewater quality. Also it had problems with leaf litterdropping in to the pond and as a result, pH keptdropping. In order to address the issue, repairwork of the netting was carried out. In additionto that coral chips were added to increase the pHlevels to satisfactory readings.5. Fish requisitionLivestock requisition was carried out in severalways.• Purchase from fish shops and suppliersPart of the fish stock is from these sources andinclude fish shops, villagers and fisherman as wellas hobbyist• Field workCurrently aquarium staffs are actively involved incollecting new livestock (fish, invertebrates, plantsetc) from various rivers, swamps and lakes. This iscarried out as often as possible depending to theavailability of the zoo vehicle.• Fisheries DepartmentThe aquarium works closely with the Departmentof Fish in acquiring certain specimens that are bredby them.22