Like most Chattanooga natives, I’ve been to the Tennessee Aquarium – a lot. School field trips, new exhibits, and the staple attractions of the Aquarium have brought me to its watery maze of wonder many a time since my family moved here in 1994.
Yet, visiting the Aquarium last week was rather strange. I saw things I’d never seen before. I went down corridors I’ve never gone through on any of my visits. And I did something I thought was not possible – experience the Aquarium with new eyes and find myself wowed all over again.
I did this by going on one of the Aquarium’s Backstage Pass tours. The Tennessee Aquarium’s Backstage Pass gives visitors VIP access to get up-close to touch and feed Aquarium animals. They allow you to literally put yourself in the shoes of one of the over 800 volunteers of the aquarium to see what all goes into keeping the Aquarium running and how the animals get taken care of.
The Aquarium has two backstage pass tours, one for the River Journey building and one for the Ocean Journey building. The Ocean Journey backstage pass begins at 11 a.m. each day and allows guests to watch the playful penguins from the behind the scenes observation deck, go above the exhibit and meet SCUBA divers getting into the Aquarium’s shark habitat, try on SCUBA gear and learn about Aquarium diving. guest also see what it takes to feed 10,000 hungry mouths with a visit to the animal food prep area, feed Sting rays in the Tropical Cove Touch Exhibit, and get up close and personal during an animal encounter.
The River Journey Back-stage Pass starts at 1:30 p.m. each day, and this is the one I signed up for. After going through the four open levels of the Aquarium in the 2.5 hour self-guided tour, this 45 minute in-depth look at the central building of the Aquarium is fascinating and wonderful for the hot days we are now having.
The first thing I learned on this tour is that the four levels of the Aquarium that all visitors get to see are not all there is to the Aquarium. The Aquarium River Journey building actually has eight floors, and on the fifth floor the “kitchen” is housed.
The first thing you notice in the kitchen is the smell. Feeding the thousands of Aquarium animals takes a variety of seafood, seeds and nuts, fruits and vegetables, and rats of all sizes, from some as large as a foot long to the tiny ones the size of a pinkie finger. The Aquarium goes through 100 pounds of seafood a day and surprisingly, it is delivered like the rest of the seafood to downtown restaurants.
After a stop in the kitchen, the group heads to the Gulf of Mexico tank or more accurately, behind and above the tank. This is where guests can see the feeding of the 277 pound green sea turtle with a tail the size of my arm and a shell that could seat about two full grown adults. This turtle, although carnivorous in his youth, now sticks to fruits and vegetables which are fed to him using a claw so that his massive jaws don’t take any fingers along by accident.
At this tank, our group also met two of the 160 volunteer divers that clean the tanks and feed fish. They showed us their gear, their special feeding boxes and shared humorous stories of what it’s like to be in the tank with eels, turtles, barracudas and fish of all kinds. The Gulf of Mexico tank will soon be moving and be replaced by a freshwater tank, so now is the time to go on a behind the scenes tour of this exhibit.
Next, we headed to the quarantine room which houses babies and newbies to the Aquarium. Never open to the public before, it was here we saw a new type of jellyfish that has never been bred in captivity and other fish, crabs, and a baby octopus waiting their day before the public. We also visited the pump room of the Aquarium and learned that it takes $1 billion each year to keep this facility running and the facility generates a $200,000 water bill.
Our last activity on the tour was an animal encounter with a box turtle named Buddy, a manner more akin to a Labrador than a turtle. The Ornate turtle we encountered here was less friendly, and made a vicious face when a finger got too near to his space.
Leaving the Aquarium that day, I had new excitement for this attraction. Seeing all the smiling children and adults coming and going, I thought what a testament it is to Jack Lupton and the idea of his “fish tank” that has been proven so thoroughly to be one of our most valuable assets.
For Backstage Passes, book online or call 800-260-0695. Email Erica Tuggle at reporter@hamiltoncountyherald.com.