One of the most wonderful aspects of setting up and populating an aquarium is that they can be as small or large as your imagination, space and budget can take you, and your friendly local marine fish shop can help with the rest.

On one side, you have single tanks, ideally regulated with a small number of freshwater or saltwater fish, but on the other hand, you have a billion-pound oceanarium which houses manta rays, sharks and other exotic sea creatures.

According to Guinness World Records, the World’s largest aquarium is at the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom based in Hengqin, China. Across its various saltwater and freshwater tanks, the aquarium contains 48.75m litres of water, one of five world records it has based on its sheer size.

 

The History Of The Record

An oceanarium is either a large-scale aquarium, such as the one in Hengqin, or less commonly a marine mammal park, which would have habitats for dolphins, whales and seals. The biggest oceanariums are often both.

Whilst the first public aquarium is known to be London Zoo’s Fish House, the first-ever oceanarium is believed to be Marineland of Florida in 1938, which still exists to this day after a convoluted and troubled history which saw it go through bankruptcy several times.

The first aquarium which was acknowledged as the World’s largest was Shedd Aquarium in 1991, which at 19m litres house 32,000 animals of 1500 different species with a strong emphasis on conservation.

This record lasted 14 years before the Georgia Aquarium would open with 32m litres of water tanks, and would later expand to 38m litres.

This to this day makes it the largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere, although it would be just seven years before a bigger aquarium would be opened.

Marine Life Park, in Sentosa Singapore, opened in 2012, with a total volume of over 45m litres and was designed to make visiting guests feel like they were walking on the ocean floor, complete with an 18m litre Open Ocean tank.

Finally, in 2014 after four years of construction and over £1bn in funding, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom opened and immediately set five world records.

Along with the world’s largest aquarium, it also has the world’s largest acrylic panel (at 39.6m by 8.3m) which because it is used as part of the Whale Shark Exhibit tank, also sets the record for the largest aquarium window in the world.

This same tank also has the largest underwater viewing dome with a diameter of 12m, and the tank itself is also the world’s largest individual aquarium tank, at 22.7m litres of saltwater alone.

Whilst creating any facility even close to the scale of an oceanarium is a risky and difficult move, it has paid off for these record holders, who have seen millions of visitors each year and contributed to aquatic life research and welfare causes.

However, much like building any aquarium, it is a commitment to place the lives of so many creatures into your hands, and this commitment is for life.