Downtown Aquarium, Denver, Colorado

...was a trip to the Downtown Aquarium. We'd done a bit of history at the State Capitol, had a hefty dose of culture at the Denver Art Museum and now we needed a seriously fishy experience to top off a great day out.

I love big aquariums so I was quite excited to see what Denver would have to offer. However I've been to enough aquariums that I'm getting a bit picky about what I like and what I don't and I've become more than a little ...
...tank right. And generally speaking, Downtown Aquarium doesn't do a bad job at this. There's plenty of diversity in the big tanks, lots of sharks, lots of turtles, some giant moray eels and lots of different places to stop and look at them. However, whilst the big tanks is OK, the stars of the Downtown Aquarium aren't fish at all; the kings of the Downtown Aquarium are tigers.


I've seen some weird critters in aquaria around ... more

We took a trip to Colorado last May and despite staying close to Denver, we really didn't spend much time in the city. With just a couple of days to go before we flew home we thought we'd better do some intense sightseeing and set off into Denver to see as much as we could in just one day. Our final stop was a trip to the Downtown Aquarium. We'd done a bit of history at the State Capitol, had a hefty dose of culture at the Denver Art Museum and now we needed a seriously fishy experience to top off a great day out.

I love big aquariums so I was quite excited to see what Denver would have to offer. However I've been to enough aquariums that I'm getting a bit picky about what I like and what I don't and I've become more than a little cynical about the ploys such places employ to try to make the already fascinating underwater world more accessible to the public.

Challenge number one was to find the place. It's not obvious. Like a tantalus, the aquarium is something you can see from quite a distance but you just can't figure out how to get there until the penny drops and you realise the only way to get there is to go in the opposite direction. It took some time but we got there in the end. Pulling up in one of the massive car parks, we could see the Aquarium as a large round mirrored building.

The ticket office is on the outside – I guess they want your money before you get a chance to see if it looks like the aquarium will be any good, and it's not an insubstantial amount of money. Entrance for adults is $13.75 and the term 'adult' is imposed on anyone aged 12 or over. Thank goodness there were just two of us because this could be a really pricey day out for a large family.

Never mind the cost, let's see the fish. We entered and got diverted by a tank of beautiful bright green geckos and an old deep sea diving suit – of course we had to take our photos pretending to be old divers. Then we were into the fishy zone and thankfully there were very few people visiting that day so we could take our time.

It's a well-worn technique for aquaria to lead their visitors through a range of aqueous eco-systems, showing fresh water, brackish water, open ocean and so on. The aim is to lead the visitor through the different places where creatures are found and showing how they adapt to those settings. Some of this was a tad lame – I like ducks a lot but I'm not entirely sure why they are so popular with aquariums. Some of the exhibits were plain cheesy, most noticeably a gold mine exhibit where visitors can pay a small fee to pan for gold in an old-style sluice. The moment at which I groaned and exclaimed "For goodness sake" was when I passed to orang-utan automaton and just asked "WHY?" There was a ludicrous desert rainstorm exhibit which provided an excuse for a bunch of scary looking rattle snakes and a periodic 'whoosh' of hundreds of gallons of water flooding across the path.

So much, so cheesy. But it wasn't all bad. Because the place was so empty, we flitted back and forth around the aquarium – not something you can normally do when things are busy. There were two sea otters that were taking a nap and we went back every 15 minutes or so to see if they'd woken up but were disappointed that they never did. Perhaps they were stuffed, who knows. The point at which things really picked up was in the main central tank. For most aquaria this is the section you have to get right or you've blown it – pure and simple. The public will forgive you any misdemeanours; sleeping sea otters, jaded ducks, underactive seahorses and even (at a pinch) stuffed orang-utans are all forgivable if you get the big tank right. And generally speaking, Downtown Aquarium doesn't do a bad job at this. There's plenty of diversity in the big tanks, lots of sharks, lots of turtles, some giant moray eels and lots of different places to stop and look at them. However, whilst the big tanks is OK, the stars of the Downtown Aquarium aren't fish at all; the kings of the Downtown Aquarium are tigers.

I've seen some weird critters in aquaria around the world but never before tigers. These boys were absolutely beautiful. When we first arrived at the tiger enclosure there was one rather sad stripy fella pacing up and down getting a bit ratty. Despite being behind very thick Perspex, you can't help but feel your heart leap in your chest when a full grown male tiger bounds right up to you.

We wandered off several times and kept coming back because one of the aquarium staff had told us that the tiger we'd seen didn't get on with the other tigers and once he went back inside, the others would probably come out to play. Eventually our patience paid off and we returned to find two large Sumatran tigers (the only breed that loves to swim) strolling around the larger enclosure, playing with the water toys and strutting around proudly. Whilst we weren't lucky enough to see the tigers swimming, there was a lot of time to watch video footage of them swimming and playing with toys in the water.

Our final highlight almost passed us by. Near to the exit is a ray pool where visitors are invited to stroke the rays. When we first arrived there was nobody at the pool and it seemed a bit odd to be stroking fish on our own. Then one of the staff came along to feed them and let us join in, holding the food on our hands and letting them swoop over and grab the food. After a while it became clear that some of the rays were more self-confident and assertive than the others and after about 20 minutes we were able to identify the different rays and predict which would nuzzle and which would just grab at the food.

So is the Downtown Aquarium worth a visit? I'd say the answer to that lies more in the attitude of the visitor than in the aquarium itself. We could easily have been round the entire place in 30-40 minutes and back in the over-priced car park feeling let down and over-charged. It was only our determination to enjoy a slightly second-rate aquarium and to find the good in the place that made it such an enjoyable visit. That and the great attitude of the staff who infected us with their love of the animals they worked with which made us want to go back for a second or third look at some of the critters that hadn't been very interesting or very active at first sight.

Would I recommend it? Not for a family visit – we've borrowed friends' children and taken them to aquariums and found that they really don't find them as exciting as we do. Kids that are used to video games and instant action may find the shop at the end of the aquarium more exciting than watching fish and sea creatures. If you love aquariums and have the attitude to look for the good in them, then go. But if you aren't too sure, this is one you can probably give a miss – it's not a world-class aquarium and is really rescued by its tigers.

The Downtown Aquarium has only traded under this name since 2003. Prior to that it was called the Ocean Journey Aquarium and I don't think it was doing very well. As a result it was bought by a chain of seafood restaurants called Landry's. Is it me or does that seem just a bit nasty? "Ladies and Gentlemen. Roll up and see the fish – then eat them" 

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