Aquarium of Brussels, Public aquarium and museum in Koekelberg, Belgium
The Aquarium of Brussels is a facility with multiple tanks and terrariums housing aquatic and semi-aquatic animals from around the world. The space is organized to recreate different water environments, from tropical rivers to northern seas.
The Aquarium of Brussels opened in September 2005 on Avenue Émile Bossaert in Koekelberg, the second public aquarium in the city after the aquarium and fish-farming museum founded near the Bois de la Cambre in 1906, which closed shortly before the Second World War. It was accredited as a zoological park (ZP21015) and closed on 8 January 2018 after its two founders left and no public authority took over; the animals went to other European aquariums and zoos.
The aquarium's name recalls a tradition begun in 1906, when the first Aquarium and Fishery Museum of Brussels opened near the Bois de la Cambre. The 2005 centre, approved as a zoological park under number ZP21015, was run by two founders until their departure; it closed on 8 January 2018 and its animals were sent to other European aquariums and zoos.
The aquarium closed permanently on 8 January 2018 after its two founders left and public authorities declined to take it over; the animals were sent to other aquariums and zoos in Europe. The building on Avenue Émile Bossaert in Koekelberg is therefore not open to visitors, and the tanks seen in photographs belong to that former exhibition space.
The aquarium held 48 tanks and aquaterrariums displaying more than 250 small species of fish, amphibians and invertebrates from around the world, in a building of 1,200 m². It was the second public aquarium in Brussels; the first, the Aquarium and Fishery Museum, opened near the Bois de la Cambre in 1906.
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