The Atlantic City Aquarium hopes to reopen after 4 years. The fish have been there all along

The Atlantic City Aquarium, which has been “temporarily” closed for nearly 4 years, is delaying its reopening once again after it secured federal funding for exterior renovations to its building, city officials announced this week. The building will open at some point in the near future.

“The city made the determination that when the Atlantic City Aquarium reopens, because it’s a first-class attraction, it needs to look good both inside and out,” Andrew Kramer, a city spokesman, said in a statement.

In the meantime, fish and marine animals have continued to live inside the shuttered building, a city spokesman said. Outside contractors have cared for the animals since the doors closed to the public. Asked whether the fish were affected by the lack of visitors, Kramer assured The Inquirer the animals received proper care during the closure.

Before it closed, the little aquarium was home to baby stingrays and tropical sharks, clownfish and anemones, moon jellies, moray eels, piranhas, a bearded dragon lizard, a tarantula, a six-foot-long Amazon tree boa constrictor, and a loggerhead sea turtle named Groman, according to its website. Built in 1999, the aquarium was open year-round, seven days a week, and housed more than 100 marine animals. (For comparison, the Adventure Aquarium in Camden is home to more than 15,000).

COVID-19 temporarily shut down the aquarium at the beginning of 2020. “We miss you, look forward to seeing you all soon,” the organization wrote on Facebook in May 2020. The aquarium later posted on Facebook that it would be “tentatively reopening Fall 2023″ — but it did not.

Over the years, commenters wondered longingly when or whether the aquarium would ever reopen.

“Here we are 2024, still closed. I would assume the AC Aquarium has gone extinct,” one wrote.

Just before the pandemic began, the aquarium secured grant funding from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and other sources for capital improvements. Over the past four years, the building got new roofing, windows, lighting and flooring, a new deck and ceiling for the top-level lookout, bathroom renovations, and updates to its electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems, Kramer said, as well as a fresh paint job.

Now federal stimulus money from the American Rescue Plan will help fund the exterior renovations, a development first reported by the Press of Atlantic City.

The aquarium is part of Gardner’s Basin, the back bay area that is home to restaurants, commercial fishing boats, and outdoor concerts. The city owns the aquarium and it is managed by the Department of Public Works, while Gardner’s Basin Management handles the exhibits.

Mayor Marty Small Sr. will provide more information about the aquarium’s future, including its official reopening date, at his State of the City address next week.