Tanning up? An estuarine crocodile (Photo by Roy Medina).

By ROY MEDINA
abs-cbnNEWS.com

The first thing many would want to see in a giant aquarium is a shark. Or, for kids, perhaps, Nemo.

But at Kuala Lumpur’s Aquaria, sharks and "Nemo" (ocellaris clownfish) come later in this 60,000-square meter aquarium located in the heart of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC)

Aquaria KLCC, an underwater park near the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, houses 33,000 aquatic and land-bound animals from Malaysia and around the world, representing 283 different species.

Visitors wanting to have a peek at Sand Tiger Sharks, Moray eels, a giant Grouper and gliding Manta Rays must wait because at Aquaria, they come later in the journey divided into six stages.

Think green. A tree serpent (Photo by Roy Medina).

The Aquaria journey

The first part of the journey is "The Highlands," a section dedicated to showcasing the lungfish, the terrapin and an estuarine crocodile, among others.

Next comes "Jewels of the Jungle," the part that houses tree serpents, different types of frogs, tarantulas, lizards, geckos and other types of spiders commonly found in forests.

The "Flooded Forest" portion focuses on the Malaysian and Amazon rainforests and their fauna, particularly two giant Arapaimas, catfish and the black pacu.

Jaws -- small version. One of several sharks at Aquaria (Photo by Roy Medina).

"The Coast" is described as "where the land meets the sea" and is home to the lionfish, and the green and hawksbill turtle. Baby sharks and stingrays also swim in several concrete tanks in a "Touch Pool," where visitors can freely interact with the sea creatures.

"The Living Reef" is similar to a mini-coral reef. Here, "man-made" reef balls can be found. These form the base for mounds of "multi-colored hard corals" for the symbiotic living environment of sea creatures.

And last but not the least, is where the sharks are.

Giant. One of Aquaria's giant arapaimas (Photo by Roy Medina).

Visitors get to see how sharks and other ocean creatures such as giant sea turtles and rays co-exist. The 3,000 creatures housed in this giant aquarium can be viewed left, right and overhead via a 90-meter moving walkway inside the underwater tunnel.

And where’s Nemo?

Nemo is saved for last, along with multi-colored eels housed in glass cases.

And just when visitors think that they’ve seen the last of Aquaria’s showcases, a giant replica of a shark’s teeth greets them at the exit -- a perfect, fitting end to the adventure.

Lion's den. A lionfish (Photo by Roy Medina).

Feeding time

Can’t get enough of the experience? Sure enough, marine life enthusiasts can have their share of how these creatures behave during feeding time.

Interestingly, the creatures, like the sharks, rays and turtles, do seem to know when it’s feeding time because of the music being played at various intervals within the day.

According to Aquaria, the turtles and giant catfish are fed 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m. daily. The other creatures, meanwhile, get their chow for 30 minutes starting at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.

As for the shark, the 30-minute meal time happens Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Visitors may think that getting a feel of the creatures and seeing them during feeding time are not enough.

For the more adventurous and extreme, Aquaria offers a totally out-of-this world experience – you get to dive with sharks!

Aquaria assures visitors that the experience is "very safe."

"Any accidents that may occur will be through human errors as the sharks in the oceanarium are fish eaters and have acclimatized themselves with divers being present in the oceanarium," it said in its Frequently Asked Questions section.

The dive and the briefing takes two to three hours. This depends on the experience of the diver, that is, the one paying for the dive to get a closer look of the sharks.

Usually, a non-diver takes three hours to complete the dive while a certified one will have two hours.

Aquaria said that a non-certified diver will spend approximately 30-45 minutes underwater, while a certified diver will spend approximately one hour.