31 Aquariums From Wow to WTF [Pics]

People enjoy watching fish swim. It’s soothing in our otherwise crazy high-speed lifestyles. Fish habitats come in practically every shape and size you can imagine. Some are works of wonder while others are more like WTF were they thinking when they designed that aquarium. These are 31 of those very unique aquariums found around the world.

Want an Aquarium?

(image credits Born Rich,hometone,gizmodo,Sydney Morning Herald,Born Rich)

Fish habitats have come a long way since simple rectangular aquariums or a round bowl. If you want some fish and need an aquarium, the sky is the limit nowadays. . . or perhaps your budget is deciding factor. If you want fish in the kitchen, but not to eat, then there are kitchen table bars for that. Sofas come with aquariums on both sides. There are aquariums to hang on the wall that resemble flat screen TVs. Fish in an iPod? It’s been done. There are even space-age hanging aquariums so your fish habitat will not take up any of your valuable floor space.

glass-art

(image credits: Vanessa Mitrani )

If you have a fondness for glass art yet also want to keep fish as pets, there are dozens of options available for you. These decorative fish tanks by Vanessa Mitrani have organic bubbles that balloon this way and that to provide an environment in which betas can survive. Cleaning is done with a soft sponge and water.

Ice

(image credits doseng)

Want fish but not the mess of cleaning their habitat? Of course, you would not get to enjoy watching the fish swim either in this type of aquarium. The aquarium is made of ice and the fish are frozen inside it.

Strange or Cool?

(image credits gizmodo,Born Rich,gizmodo,novate)

The Spillarium has a waterfall effect to circulate and purify water in the aquarium. It might also keep your fish swimming like crazy to avoid spilling out of the hole and into the ceramic fish’s mouth. If you enjoy watching fish swim, but dislike feeding them and cleaning their tank, you must check out the Aquapict LED Jellyfish Aquarium. It contains three electrified life-like jellyfish, made out of silicone, to seem as if they are swimming. On the lower left, “Swimming Around In Circles” aquarium is only a concept at this point, but was designed for your fishies to feel free. It “loops the fish around in an infinite tunnel of water and glass.” The lower right aquarium is for breeding fish. It plugs into your computer via USB to help you track and monitor optimum breeding conditions.

Fish Fans

(image credits Luxury Housing Trends,Opulent Items,Opulent Items,Elseware Inc)

Nothing new here, but it does show variety in where you can keep your fish. Do you have high stress at work and need a way to relax? The aquarium desk takes keeping fish at work to another level. In fact, you can sooth your stress level while watching fish swim in any room of your house. There are all shapes and sizes of coffee table aquariums. Too dull for you? Then how about keeping your fish in the bathroom sink or in the back of the toilet?

Cruelly Cramped to Free Roam Pipeline

(image credits Collections Etc,xinhuanet,The contaminated)

Apartment living often leads to needing every precious square foot. It seems cruel to keep your fish in a tiny half bubble tank on the wall, but some people like it. Another cruel yet odd aquarium design can be found in a Beijing hotel lobby. The fish survive for only six days before a big flushing and new fish stock replaces the old. The polar opposite of cramped and cruel is the pipeline fish tank that zigs and zags all over a cafe. These fish are free roaming, swimming from one aquarium to another by way of pipelines which connect them.

How To Clean?

(image credits Opulent Items)

The Labyrinth Aquarium is without a doubt very cool. However, with a price tag of $6,500, it seems as if it should come with a person to clean this opulent aquarium. Just the same, it’s pretty neat to look at the fish swimming freely throughout this enitre fish tank.

The Aquarium Phone Booth

(image credits RX thepirata, Benoit Deseille and Benedetto Bufalino,lady_stardust9)

Artists Benoit Deseille and Benedetto Bufalino created this telephone booth aquarium as part of the Lyon Light Festival in France. They stated, “With the advent of the mobile telephone, telephone booths lie unused. We rediscover this glass cage transformed into an aquarium, full of exotically coloured fish; an invitation to escape and travel.”

Aquarium Arch

(image credits fish-and-dreams)

Aquariums are pretty much in every design imaginable. This aquarium archway would definitely attract attention in any home, office or business.

3D

(image credits fish-and-dreams)

This project aimed at showing the designer’s capabilities in realizing your ideas and fantasies that go beyond the usual and standard. This 3D bar aquarium is creative and cool, definitely a winner in commanding attention.

Bar with an aquarium dancefloor filled with sharks

(image credits QUA Bottle Lounge)

There are many bars around the world that are built around an aquarium, but not so many where the dance floor is a giant fish tank. In Austin, Texas, this cocktail lounge is called QUA Bottle Lounge. The dance floor is filled with sharks.

Aquadom

(image credits id4,,vagabondish)

The Radisson SAS hotel in Berlin Mitte, has a 25 meter tall elevator encased inside a giant aquarium. It is the largest acrylic glass cylinder aquarium in the world. It holds 900,000 liters of sea water and 56 different fish species. Every day, divers take care of feeding the fish and cleaning inside this massive and unique tank.

Georgia Aquarium

(image credit: textransfer)

The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is advertised as the “world’s largest aquarium.” It has 100,000 animals of 500 different species. The aquarium holds more than 8.1 million gallons of marine and fresh water. Pictured above is the The Ocean Voyager exhibit tunnel is a 100 foot underwater tunnel which includes the vast majority of the aquarium’s water and almost 100,000 fish. Other aquatic animals are displayed in five different galleries: Georgia Explorer, Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, and River Scout.

Dubai Mall Aquarium

[youtube=Puzq70LmTdQ]

Inside the Dubai Mall Aquarium is one of the of the largest tanks in the world and featuring the world’s largest viewing panel at 32.8m wide and 8.3m high. Over time, Dubai Aquarium will have more than 33,000 living animals, representing more than 85 species including over 400 sharks and rays combined.

Kuroshio Sea

[youtube=u7deClndzQw]

The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is housed within the Ocean Expo Commemorative National Government Park in Okinawa, Japan. It is the world’s second largest aquarium behind the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.