Approximately two-thirds of the facility's display follows this theme, with the rest devoted to smaller aquatic exhibits hosting organisms from around the world.

This facility includes hyacinth macaws, a touch tank of small sharks and rays, and a butterfly garden with free-flying South American species.

At the beginning of the 1980s the Chattanooga-based Lyndhurst Foundation funded a series of initiatives to promote revitalization in the city, which was suffering from the impacts of deindustrialization and population decline.

This led to the first public mention of an aquarium project, in a 1982 student exhibit of what they described as an "urban design structure" for downtown Chattanooga and the adjacent riverfront.

[21] Development of the aquarium and the adjoining Ross's Landing Park, part of the Tennessee Riverpark project, was funded by a combination of nonprofit, public, and private individual supporters.

[26] The decision to focus on freshwater environments was made during the planning process, as participants reasoned that it would be difficult to raise money for an aquarium offering conventional salt-water exhibits and that most people would be unlikely to travel to Chattanooga in order to visit one.

[28] The building's exterior reinforces the focus of the exhibits with a series of 53 bas-relief depictions of the history of the Tennessee River valley set into the walls.

[29] In the surrounding plaza of Ross's Landing Park, variegated bands of plantings and paving represent a chronology of Chattanooga, with a stream flowing through the park to guide visitors through its history from its beginnings as a Cherokee settlement during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, facing towards the river, to the present, facing towards downtown Chattanooga.

[31] Some observers were skeptical of the project, with local detractors describing it in terms like "Jack Lupton's fish tank"[32] and some analysts questioning whether Chattanooga had fallen victim to a fad for public aquariums and overestimated the potential economic impact.

Although the plan for Ocean Journey was announced a month after the developers of what would become the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, two hours away from Chattanooga, announced their choice of a building site, Tennessee Aquarium officials insisted that their own plans were not a response to this potential competition and that the addition of saltwater exhibits simply reflected visitor requests.

[40] The Tennessee Aquarium was the first element of Chattanooga's downtown revitalization plans to begin operation, preceding hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Community leaders credit it with beginning to improve residents' perceptions of the downtown and riverfront districts, as well as attracting tourist traffic.

[31] A 2014 study done for the aquarium by the University of Tennessee Center for Sustainable Business and Development concluded that its annual economic impact is an estimated $101.3 million and over 1000 jobs overall.

Planners hoped that as a project free of historic ties, the aquarium would be embraced by all parts of a community traditionally divided by race and by economic and social class.

[42] In the 1990s, development of a "world-class" aquarium was considered a sign of hope for the economically-depressed city and evidence of its ability to come together to create civic improvements.

[21][31] As downtown Chattanooga continues to develop, the city has emerged as an example of successful revitalization in older American urban areas; the aquarium is recognized as an example of the "Chattanooga Way", which relies on cooperation among the city, foundations and private enterprise, plus a high degree of public involvement, to complete significant projects in the community despite limited government resources.

[34][46][47] In October 2015 the TNACI announced that it will be building a new home, a facility which Institute director Anna George described as a "freshwater field station" for research and education, on the campus of Baylor School on the north shore of the Tennessee River.

[45] The TNACI is focused on the restoration of freshwater ecosystems, including the study of water quality and the propagation and reintroduction of native aquatic species to southeastern waterways, and works in partnership with other conservation groups and agencies in Georgia and Tennessee.

[49][54] In 2013 the TNACI began a program to reintroduce and monitor captive-raised southern Appalachian brook trout, which have suffered from the effects of climate change and competition from introduced species, in suitable rivers and streams.

[56] Other TNACI projects include conservation genetics research on fish species, including the blue shiner, flame chub, laurel dace, and Conasauga logperch, and the development of the Freshwater Information Network (FIN), a database of current and historic locality information for 62 southeastern fish species in peril.

[63] It is the only accredited zoo or aquarium in the United States to hatch another critically endangered southeast Asian species, the Beale's eyed turtle.

[75] The aquarium also offers a range of camps, workshops and other programming for children and teens, and internships and collaboration opportunities for college students.

It was established in 2011 in partnership with chef and television personality Alton Brown, an advocate of sustainable fisheries, who visited Chattanooga for events in 2011 and 2012.

Serve & Protect activities, including cooking demonstrations, cook-offs and dinners, are designed to encourage visitors and participants to consume sustainable seafood such as catfish, squid, Arctic char and summer flounder, as a way of removing pressure from threatened fisheries.