Striped Loach, Kissing Gouramy, Buenous-Aires Tetra, Serpant Treta, what do you think they are? Chocolates, Pastries or Ice creams... no they are none of them. Do you want to know what they are all about. Take a breath, wait, they are the names of some fish at the Government Aquarium. Can you believe it, I am sure you wouldn't have guessed it.

Have you ever noticed the huge building diagonally opposite to the Queen Elizabeth's statue on M.G.Road, well that is the Government Aquarium. It was inaugurated in 1983 and is run by the Department of Fisheries.

The building also houses the Aquarists Society of Karnataka who are involved in the sale of fish tanks, fish and accessories. Apart from popularising the keeping of ornamental fish in schools and hospitals they also are involved in organising exhibitions, seminars, slide shows, lectures and imparting training to maintain ornamental fish.

Can you guess how many varieties of fish are there inthe Aquarium? Yes there are around 70 varieties.

"We have some fish from our own state and some from Chennai, Mumbai. There are some from South East Asia, South America, Sri Lanka, Japan. We have around 1000 people coming from various parts of our country every day and on week ends we have around 2000 people visiting us," says Veeranna, Assistant Director of Fisheries.

How many of us have taken time toappreciate this wonderful creation of God? How many of us have observed the magnificent colors in them? Aushutosh Mukerjee and his family, tourists from Orissa sharing their experience with the Bangalorebest team said," It is because of my daughter that I am here, after visiting this place I realized that each fish here has its own beauty and charm. They are all so graceful, the authorities have really maintained it well."

"Mamma look at that orange fish," screamed little Nihal with excitement, looking at the Bubble Eye Gold, a fish from South Asia. Nihal was with his family who are NRIs settled in New Jersey. The Bubble Eye Gold fish has a bubble like structure around its mouth. It is really tempting to touch."One of the reasons why we have so many people coming every day is because the aquarium is located in the heart of the city and places like the Museum, Vidhana Soudha, Cubbon Park, M.G.Road are right next to each other," says Veeranna.

And for those whose appetites are kindled by viewing the fish here, there is a fish stall next door. The fish you eat here are NOT the fish you've seen!!!

It is open from 10 am to 5:15 pm on all days except Mondays and second Tuesday of every month and on general holidays.

If you would like to see the beautiful and unique fish with vibrant colours, then just drop in to the Government Aquarium

Click here for AQUAFEST 2000

Deepa Pics: Ravindra Nayak

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