Aquarium

An aquarium (plural: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles such as turtles, and aquatic plants. The term, coined by English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, combines the Latin root aqua, meaning water, with the suffix -arium, meaning "a place for relating to". The aquarium principle was fully developed in 1850 by the chemist Robert Warington, who explained that plants added to water in a container would give off enough oxygen to support animals, so long as their numbers do not grow too large. The aquarium craze was launched in early Victorian England by Gosse, who created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and published the first manual, The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea in 1854.

An aquarist owns fish or maintains an aquarium, typically constructed of glass or high-strength acrylic. Cuboid aquaria are also known as fish tanks or simply tanks, while bowl-shaped aquaria are also known as fish bowls. Size can range from a small glass bowl to immense public aquaria. Specialized equipment maintains appropriate water quality and other characteristics suitable for the aquarium's residents.

Zoo Tycoon (series)

Zoo Tycoon is a series of business simulation video games. The games focus around building and running successful zoo scenarios. The series was initially developed by Blue Fang Games and published by Microsoft Studios who later in 2001-2008 went on to create two stand-alone video games and seven expansion packs for PC and Macintosh platforms. With their contract with Microsoft ending in 2009, Blue Fang announced their official forums would close to incoming posts in June of 2008. In 2013, Microsoft Studios released a new Zoo Tycoon game, developed by Frontier Developments exclusively for Xbox One and Xbox 360 in 2013.

Gameplay

Zoo Tycoon is a zoo simulation video game putting the player in control of their own fictional zoo business. The gameplay formula introduced in the original Zoo Tycoon in 2001 received updates throughout the series, but its theme and main motifs remain unchanged: Players must build, expand, and/or upgrade a zoo by purchasing animals, creating suitable animal habitats, and allocate staff and resources for animal maintenance and care. As the ultimate goal of the game is revenue, players must also provide for visitors by building food/drink stands, sanitary facilities, picnic areas, and an aesthetically pleasing environment. Higher revenue is generated by keeping both animals and visitors happy.

Zoo Tycoon 2

Zoo Tycoon 2 is a 2004 video game developed by Blue Fang Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios and MacSoft Games. Originally released for Windows, Zoo Tycoon 2 is also available for Windows Mobile, PDA, and Mac OS X, although expansions are not included in the Mac version. A Nintendo DS version, titled Zoo Tycoon 2 DS, was released in 2008.

Zoo Tycoon 2 features similar gameplay as its predecessor, Zoo Tycoon. The object of the game is to build and operate a zoo by creating exhibits and aquariums, keeping guests and animals happy, and maintaining employees, finances, terrain, and scenery. The player's goal is to become a "zoo tycoon".

Gameplay

Zoo Tycoon 2 features a number of gameplay modes, each with differing limitations, with the exception of Freeform. A Freeform game in Zoo Tycoon 2 allows the player to choose what kind of zoo to create, with the only restrictions being space, animals, and objects. The player's money supply is unlimited, and all items are available from the beginning of the game, except for those that can only be unlocked in Scenario and Challenge games. Freeform games begin with an empty zoo, to which the player adds animal exhibits and guest facilities such as restaurants and bathrooms. The player must also hire employees to staff and maintain the facilities. The player chooses a plot of land for the zoo to be built upon at the start of a new Freeform game, and each plot of land represents a different biome (the biomes are alpine, benthic, boreal forest, coastal, desert, grassland, pelagic, reef, savannah, scrub, temperate forest, tropical rainforest, tundra, and wetlands). Each plot of land is also a different size (large, small or medium).

Coral reef

Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria, which also includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which support and protect the coral polyps. Most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated waters.

Often called "rainforests of the sea", shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for at least 25% of all marine species, including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians.Paradoxically, coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep water and cold water corals also exist on smaller scales in other areas.

Fishtank (disambiguation)

A fishtank is a container housing fish.

Fishtank or Fish Tank may also refer to: