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I JUST got back from Gatlinburg, TN and have not had Internet access since Wednesday!
I got a chance to run through the Ripleys Aquarium in Gatlinburg and actually spend some quality time rather than rushing through. Last time I went two years ago I was a complete marine noob. Yes, I even asked if live rock needed light to live back then.  Since then I have learned so much that it almost makes me sad. Why? Because it is hard to enjoy places when you know the fish are not happy. But all is not bad!
To start with the good, almost all the tanks were spotless with healthy fish! The "Living Reefs" exibit was amazing. Proper lighting, flow, fish selection, etc. Even the Powder Blue Tang they had was perfect, not a spot of ich! The corals were amazingly colored with great growth. I even gave a short lecture to a few bystanders that were listening in on my conversation with my mom. That was enjoyable. The 1 million gallon shark tank was pretty cool. Huge Sand Tigers just floated ever so easily over your head. Amazing. The ray tank was really cool as well. Some of them I could not even stretch my arms out to meet them tip to tip. The one had a good 2' wider span than I did.
The freshwater was sort of "bleh". The big tank with HUGE Pacus, Redtails, etc but it didn't hold a candle to the Toledo Zoo's. Toledo did a much, much better job. They had a couple freshwater planted tanks but they were so-so at best. Again, Toledo rules over them in the freshwater department for sure.
The bad...the "Coral Reef" tank was just horrible. A lot of their Yellow/Blue/Purple Tangs had really bad coloration, HLLE, fins missing, etc. No idea why they did not remove the sick animals to heal them or do something about it. The only healthy tangs were the large Sohals (with scars) and what I think was a Dussimeri Tang. It was really sad to see dozens of tangs in such horrible condition. The employee played it off like they were supposed to be that way or they are extremely hard fish to keep. The rest of the fish in the tank were just fine, like the angels (droolfest there!). Maybe it was just me that noticed all the unhealthy fish...
Overall I'd say the $20 ticket (plus 11% tax.....) was worth it. I'll have pictures up tomorrow of the feeding time and some of the fish. I'm going to write them an e-mail about what I saw to see what their explanation is. I'm no expert, but they have some serious issues in that one tank that needs to be addressed.
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