Sometimes it doesn’t take much to dampen all the fun, and all it took this weekend was a crack in a 13,000 gallon aquarium to cause Gulfstream Racing and Casino Park in Miami to shutdown the casino over this holiday weekend washing away plans for thousands of patrons over the busy holiday weekend. The crack caused most of the water in the aquarium to escape and flood the bar area the aquarium was housed in about two minutes. The deluge of water also caused damage in the casino area immediately below the aquarium.

The floor-to-ceiling aquarium serves as the centerpiece in the room and it was just after midnight on Sunday morning when casino patrons heard a crack, followed by the deluge of water. Luckily the staff of the casino was able to round up staff to rescue all 100 fish — including two small nurse sharks, angelfish, grouper and lionfish — that called the tank home. According to news reports, in less than two minutes the entire tank was drained except for about two feet of water in the bottom of the tank.

This goes to show even the biggest aquariums can fail at times. We cannot comment on who manufactured the tank since that part is unknown but according to a response to the video below on YouTube, Living Color Aquariums — the team behind the NatGeo show Fish Tank Kings! and the aquarium backstop at the new Miami Marlins stadium — did not manufacture the aquarium.

“Living Color Enterprises DID NOT manufacture the Acrylic Cylinder at the Gulfstream Casino Aquarium,” said an unknown spokesperson through the official Living Color Aquariums handle on YouTube. “Living Color was involved in the Gulfstream Casino Aquarium and supplied the museum-quality Artificial Coral Reef Décor and sophisticated Filtration System for the aquarium.”

Since the aquarium is on a boat that stays docked, we wonder if the movement of the ocean on the vessel had anything to do with weakening the aquarium. Until a larger investigation is done, we just may not know what caused the tank to rupture and can only speculate. Check out the video below for a first-hand look at the aquarium leak.

[Thanks Terence for the heads up. Story via Sun Sentinal]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD0oMJjEXiw[/youtube]