Belo Horizonte Aquarium, Public aquarium in Zoological Garden of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The Belo Horizonte Aquarium, also called the São Francisco River Basin Aquarium, occupies about 3,000 m² over two floors on Avenida Otacílio Negrão de Lima in Pampulha. Its 22 tanks hold over 1 million litres for about 1,200 fish of 50 species endemic to the São Francisco basin. The largest tank, the Aquário São Francisco, holds 450,000 litres and shows both the river's margin and its bottom.

The aquarium was inaugurated on 5 March 2010 by the Fundação Zoo-Botânica, the body that runs Belo Horizonte's zoo and botanical garden. It resulted from a partnership between the city government of Belo Horizonte and Brazil's Ministry of Environment. Its collection was assembled from more than fifty fish species captured along the roughly 2,800 km course of the São Francisco River.

The facility showcases the São Francisco River Basin ecosystems, connecting visitors with how important these waters are to local communities and their way of life. The displays reveal how deeply many people's daily activities depend on these river landscapes.

The aquarium sits at Avenida Otacílio Negrão de Lima 8.000 in Pampulha, on two floors covering about 3,000 m². It opens Tuesday to Sunday, so plan around a Monday closure. The route passes 22 tanks plus gardens, a marginal lagoon, a snack bar and a gift shop; allow time to walk the whole circuit.

The 450,000-litre "Aquário São Francisco" tank recreates a branch of the river with scenery showing both its bank and its riverbed, so visitors see the channel from two angles at once. The landscaping along the "ribeirão" uses native trees such as angico-branco, ipê-roxo, jequitibá and ingá-do-burro, chosen from CEMIG studies of riparian forest remnants in the upper São Francisco.