Jungle Reef — Attraction in El Paso

I went with my family on June 30th, 2024.

I want local businesses to succeed, but this place needs a lot of work. Most of the aquatic exhibits had no staff supervision. At the stingray zone, a random staff member came up to a group in front of us to tell them to be careful because stingrays can hurt you pretty bad. If that is the case, then shouldn't there be staff there to guide/monitor visitors?

I originally went to this place to show my daughter the starfish exhibit. It was practically nonexistent. I found a thread on reddit that contained multiple complaints about the starfish being mutilated or killed by kids. That's extremely disappointing. These places should exist to EDUCATE people. Entertainment should be a secondary thought, and animal welfare should be the top priority.

We skipped past the shark exhibit because the water was so murky, you could only make our silhouettes. The Koi fish pond was very interesting. Again, there was no staff supervision so kids were giving the fish food they aren't supposed to eat or generally terrorizing them.

There was a tortoise roaming around the area which was awesome at first glance. However, excitement turned to concern as I noticed kids and adults swarming it and slapping it's shell and poking it's face. That poor thing was stressed. I brought it up to some staff members and they dismissed my concerns. "It's fine, the tortoises like to stretch their legs!" Cool. My concern was that it was literally being hit by people, not that it was walking around.

We skipped the bird exhibit and barnyard experience because you have to pay extra on top of admission - which is extremely pricey when you factor in the cost of animal food tokens. I'd be able to rationalize this cost of this place if it actually felt like a quality experience.

The final exhibit before the gift shop was a porcupine pen. This poor animal was having what could best explained as a dissociative anxiety episode. It was laying there, motionless, heavy breathing and staring off into space. My mom asked the nearby staff if it was okay, and he said it was "probably" fine. What a reassuring answer.

The gift shop is designed in a way where it actively deters people from wanting to buy gifts. There is no separate register for the gift shop. If you want to buy something, you have to wait at the same counter that is used for ticket purposes. We waited for 10 - 15 minutes to buy a little plush before we put it back...

My best friend and I went on a Monday and it was one of the best day of our lives lol. We went for his birthday and he said it was his best birthday so far. When we came in we were greeted by Taylor and she was so funny and easy to talk to! She explained some of the activities we could do inside and made us even more excited. Right when we walked into the actual aquarium there were the stingrays and they were beautiful and not at all we expected to feel when we pet them! Then a handler named Angel came and started to tell us facts about the rays and to feed them. It was so fun to watch them eat and Angel was happy to answer any questions we had about the rays! There was so many animals to see and so many things to learn! A handler named Alexis gave us a river monster show and we got to see them eat fish heads. And after a fun day of petting animals and learning we went to a sitting area and there they had one of those sifting stations where you could look for rocks in a bag of dirt. There was an employee there that helped us and was very nice, unfortunately I forgot her name :( Im sure it started with an N or an M but I lost the receipt with her name on it. And we finally ended the day with another handler who was able to feed and tell us about their porcupine! I sadly forgot his name as well, but I think it started with a B. He also taught us some facts about the legless lizard they had earlier that day!

My over all review is that it was great in literally everyway and I cant wait to go again! My friend and I are 100% going to get the yearly pass when we're able to! We went on Monday September 30th and got there around 1pm. For 2 adult passes it was $32.45 and I think that was a great price for the fun we had. They had tokens that you could use to get food for the animals to feed them. It was $2.50 a token and we started $30 worth and it was enough to see everything we wanted to see, but we did have to go back to get a little more towards the end of the day. Now for the sifting activity I would recommend getting the $20 dollar bag of dirt instead of the $10 bag, we got the $10 one first and there wasn't anything very interesting. I then bought the $20 one and it was so much better! It had geodes, shark teeth, and fossils, it kinda made me sad that I didn't start off with the bigger bag. Other the that, it was great, the staff was awesome, the animals were very friendly, and I cant wait to take my friends and...

When I found this place and their website I was so excited, it looked like so much fun and like there were a ton of cool things to see and do. This “aquarium” is located inside the mall but I didn’t realize it until we got there and couldn’t figure out where an aquarium would be at the mall. I had assumed it was an actual aquarium like the one in Albuquerque. I brought my 5 year old son here for a special occasion today and I cannot find the proper words to describe how disappointed and upset I am. We were excited to pet the otters and stingrays but when we got there the entire front section, including where the otters and stingrays usually are, was closed. There was no mention of it on the website or when I bought the tickets. The rest of it was a couple of snakes and lizards, a small pond of koi fish, one long tank of various fish, three bunnies and a sad single porcupine in a makeshift enclosure. It was such a sad place. I felt so bad for the reptiles and fish and all of the other animals in there. We didn’t pay to do the petting zoo part or whatever it was because I imagine it would’ve made the trip even more upsetting. The girl at the front counter clearly hated her job and honestly I can see why. She’s the first person people see when the disappointment and frustration sets in. We were anticipating petting the otters and stingrays but they were on a hiatus so that they could have a break and have medical things taken care of. Cool, I get it. Please take care of the animals. However, this place looked like the most depressing environment for any of these creatures to be living in. There is no way that these animals are being taken care of the way that they need and deserve to be or that they could be content or comfortable here. I’m appalled that this is even legal. The pictures and descriptions on the website are not even a shredded tatter of what Jungle Reef actually is. I spent $45 on tickets at a place that we stayed at for a total of...