Shedd Aquarium, Chicago Illinois USA

I have to admit that I visited the Shedd Aquarium with very high expectations, and what I found was a medium sized (the freshwater part) tidy and well organized public aquarium. Perhaps it's not worth a mecca-like journey, but if you ever find yourself in Chicago (and there are lots of good reasons to visit Chicago), the aquarium is easy to find and makes a very pleasing afternoon visit. There web site is here.

For those who haven't been to Chicago, it's a huge metropolis built right to the edge of Lake Michigan.


Many of the Shedd's tanks are paludariums (part water) as shown below, with foliage and a mixture of fish. In this one Oscars, Leporinus, Annostomus and a StingRay?


Probably the nicest Festivum tank I've seen.


This would be nice in anyone's livingroom, with Monodactylus flashing through the Mangroove roots.


Finally a tank sized for Oscars.


About a foot & half of Pacus.


The tetra tank (or more Cardinals than you could count). I thought it needed a predator. The Cards were evenly spread out and very calm. With a predator, they would be schooling more. This tank has been mentioned in the newsgroups so I had to take a picture of it.


Quite an interesting (and dynamic) tank of Red Devils. I'm glad I was not born in there.


Another unusual sight, a large colony of Tropheus.


For a tall tank, I admired how they aquascaped this one, with a mix of rockwork (artificial) and driftwood.


I forgot the name of the first one below, but the 2nd is *the* Gourami sometimes mentioned in posts. If my memory is correct, this one was about a foot & a half long.


Bleeding Heart tetras?


American Paddlefish are filter feeders and ram ventilators (forcing water through their gills for respiration).

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