In 1999, the City of Houston put out a request for proposals for the redevelopment of Fire Station No.1 in the 400 block of Bagby, and the nearby Central Waterworks plant.

[1] In late 2015, a campaign targeting the aquarium's white tiger exhibit was launched by animal rights activists.

[5] The Animal Legal Defense Fund has threatened to file a lawsuit if the aquarium does not close the exhibit and transfer the tigers to a sanctuary.

[8] The Louisiana Swamp exhibit is home to animals from the marsh and bayous of the Gulf Coast, including alligators, turtles, tarpon, spotted gar, salamanders, catfish, and bullfrogs.

The exhibit features macaws, red-bellied piranha, freshwater stingrays, emerald tree boas, poison dart frogs, archerfish, arowana, and skinks.

The Sunken Temple showcases species such as lionfish, Goliath bird-eating spider, porcupinefish, an electric eel, and a reticulated python.

The Gulf of Mexico exhibit features an oil rig habitat theme that includes a nurse shark, snapper, redfish, tarpon, jacks, blue runner and more.

Discovery rig features sea horses, discus, triggerfish, a dogface puffer, a chuckwalla and more.

(On September 19, 2016, Downtown Aquarium, Houston, was served with a notice for animal abuse concerning the "deplorable" living conditions of the housed tigers, which are members of an endangered species.