Aquarium dream becomes reality

Bringing together  native fish - most of  which hate each other - was one of the easier aspects of getting New Zealand's only freshwater aquarium  started.
Decades of dreaming and planning finally came to fruition at the Tongariro National Trout Centre near Turangi on Friday when the Genesis Energy Freshwater Aquarium was officially opened.
But behind the stunning  aquarium, which showcases various freshwater habitats and the native fish, eels, and koura that live in them, lay years of  negotiating, fundraising and hard graft. The  aquarium is a unique partnership between a charitable trust, the Tongariro National Trout Centre Society, the Department of Conservation and Genesis Energy, with the support of Ngati Tuwharetoa and Ngati Rangi.
Along with a new gallery and a new library, the freshwater aquarium is part of The River Walk, the trout centre's visitor centre, which provides visitors with information about the Taupo wild trout fishery and the importance of clean, clear water.
The  idea behind the aquarium is that by showing New Zealand's  freshwater environments, from mountain streams to lakes, people will be inspired to help protect those environments and the creatures that live in them.
The aquarium features a waterfall and a stream  as well as various tanks replicating ponds, rivers and bogs. The native fish on display include koura (freshwater crayfish), bullies, inanga, kokopu, koaro, mudfish and eels. There are also secure tanks displaying   pests such as koi carp, catfish and perch and  weeds which threaten  native fish, rivers and lakes.
DoC's Tongariro-Taupo conservator Paul Green said the aquarium was important to illustrate the importance of native fish to New Zealand's ecology but designing and building something that would replicate the natural environment of the native fish species was not without its challenges.
"One of the things is that the fish just don't get along ... the giant bully is not just bully by name, but also bully by nature."
Mr Green paid tribute to the work put in by Tongariro National Trout Centre Society volunteers, Genesis Energy staff and members of DoC, particularly DoC fishery scientist Glenn Maclean and landscape architect Herwi Scheltus who he said had "poured their heart and soul" into the  project.

The aquarium was officially opened by Genesis Energy chairman and former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley, with the help of pupils from Waipahihi School, Tongariro School and Te Kura o Hirangi.
Before cutting the ribbon, Dame Jenny said most of all she wanted to acknowledge the children, for whom the aquarium had been built, in the hope that it would help teach New Zealand's future generations to value and protect freshwater environments and the creatures that lived in them.
Two further projects  lie ahead for the Tongariro National Trout Centre - a whio (blue duck) captive rearing facility where  whio can be reared before release into the wild and safer entry and exit points from the trout centre on to State Highway One.