East Idaho Aquarium to open later this summer - East Idaho News
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East Idaho Aquarium to open later this summer

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IDAHO FALLS — It was one college student’s passion to open an aquarium several years ago — and now that dream is being realized.

Arron Faires originally planned to build the East Idaho Aquarium in 2013, but things kept getting in the way until recently.

“We’ve worked with lots of places, (but) nothing really seemed to work out,” Faires said. “We’ve just been looking for the right place all this time and we finally found one.”

Now he’s preparing to open up fish exhibits in an old theater at 560 E. Anderson Street in August.

He said the idea for a local aquarium came to him while he was a student at Brigham Young University-Idaho.

“I just wanted to open an aquarium. When I went up to school, I realized there was a huge need here. Kids around here probably have never been to an aquarium,” Faires said. “I went to aquariums all over, and it was something I loved.”

For the last three months Faires, his partner, Wes Haws and local volunteers have been remodeling the theater to be used as the new aquarium.

“There were four existing walls that we could use so we wouldn’t have to build … walls, so it worked out a lot better for us,” Faires said. “We have made a ton of progress.”

So far the inside of the building contains Styrofoam molds and carvings for large scale fish tanks, and exhibit designs.

EIAquarium 2
Styrofoam carvings and molds for exhibits.

Faires said locals can look forward to interactive exhibits where patrons can get wet and touch the fish.

“(With) almost everything there’s going to be some kind of hands-on learning experience. Get wet, feel what the fish feel like, feel the stingray, see how they eat and see how they react when humans are around them,” Faires said.

The aquarium plans to host some 30 exhibits with potentially thousands of fish. It will also have birds and reptiles.

“We’ll start with the fish-only exhibit, where you can touch salt water angel fish and tangs, and then you go into a touch pool of jelly fish, because there are actually jelly fish that you can touch,” Faires said.

He said there also will be an octopus, cuttle fish, sea horse and big reef exhibits among others. He’s also constructing a shark tank that will hold six to seven sharks in 30,000 gallons of water. Faires said it will be the largest fish tank in Idaho compared to the current largest, which is 17,000 gallons. He plans get rescue animals to be a part of the exhibit.

Faires said he’s grateful for all of the help and donations he’s received for the aquarium. He said currently things are on schedule to finish toward the end of the summer.

If anyone is interested in volunteering to help build the aquarium they are welcome to visit the business location in Idaho Falls on Saturdays. People are welcome to show up as early as 9 a.m. and work until sundown.

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