In this guide you will find information about the fish in Tiny Aquarium Social Fishkeeping, how to earn money, social features and important tricks of the game.
Table of Contents
Complete Guide to Fishing, Make Money & Tips
Guide contains the normal complete Fish Dex, some rarer fish, and some unique fish.Anyway, the game starts you off with some money, some basic food, and a sponge. And I think you buy a common egg or two.
Generel Tips
Cleaning Your Tank Effectively
If you’re struggling to clean your tank or having trouble seeing the algae, try moving the sponge around repeatedly just spam the “clean” function. Alternatively, reloading the tank by clicking it again from the tank menu can force the algae to load properly. This trick has helped me numerous times.
Feeding and Caring for Fish
Fish in this game gradually become hungry, and if left unfed for too long, their health starts to decline. Thankfully, the game is fairly forgiving but yes, fish can die. If this happens, you’ll need to revive them for a small fee. Interestingly, one achievement actually requires you to let this happen.
To restore a fish’s health, I use one of two available healing items. Both heal the entire selected tank at once, but the green item restores more health. The standard “Fish Aid” is always available in the shop.
The game operates on a real-time idle loop, even when you’re offline. That means fish continue to get hungry, and algae keeps growing. But here’s the upside: adult fish generate passive income over time, making them a valuable asset.
Planning to take a break? You can freeze your tanks so your fish won’t get hungry or risk dying while you’re away. It’s a feature I’ve used many times and it’s incredibly convenient.
When your fish have coins for you to collect, you’ll see a coin icon above them—simple and effective.
Feeding Tools and Upgrades
You’ll start with a pellet shaker and a sponge. Both are upgradeable. Occasionally, the daily offer shop sells cucumbers, which can be dropped into a tank to feed multiple fish at once. It’s a huge time-saver compared to clicking for each individual fish.
Tank Decorations and Shop Rotation
Decorations serve purely aesthetic purposes, and there’s a limit to how many can be placed in a tank. You can rotate and resize them freely. If you miss one in the rotating shop, don’t worry decorations come back eventually, except for limited-time event items (though devs have mentioned events will also rotate).
Quests, Hot Fish, and Leveling Up
The game features a daily quest system and a rotating “Hot Fish of the Week.” You receive login rewards, three easy daily quests, one longer challenge, and a hot fish that sells for a premium during its featured week.
Your level affects what content is available. Certain features, like the online market, are only unlocked at higher levels. At level 25, for example, I gained access to five aquariums, each capable of holding 30 fish when fully upgraded—a total of 150. Developers have hinted that this limit may increase in the future.
Fish Guide: Rarity, Uniques, Specials, and Stats
The variety of fish is what truly hooked me.
Rarity Tiers
Fish fall into five core rarity tiers:
- Common – White icon
- Uncommon – Green icon
- Rare – Blue icon
- Epic – Purple icon
- Exotic – Gold icon (sometimes called “legendary” by players)
There are also “Special” fish, though this isn’t officially labeled in the same way.
Rarity icons are helpful when fishing—you’ll often see sparkling color-coded spots with two fish silhouettes, indicating their rarity.
Fish Dex Categories
The Fish Dex is divided into three categories:
- Normal
- Unique
- Special
Unique Fish: These are similar to “Shiny” Pokémon—surprising, slightly rarer, and visually distinct. They typically generate more income when sold and are often worth keeping.
Special Fish: These are mostly obtained via hatching Friendship Eggs (more on that later). For example, the axolotl event introduced a special variant. Special fish currently cannot breed.
Fish Stats
Each fish has three stats:
- Size – Affects sale price
- Fortune – Determines passive income as an adult
- Fertility – Influences chances of producing two offspring instead of one when breeding
I once purchased an arowana with 100% in all three stats through the online market—truly a rare find.
Breeding Basics
Although I haven’t explored breeding deeply, here’s what I’ve confirmed:
- You can breed any two fish regardless of species.
- The offspring usually reflect the more common parent’s rarity.
- Fertility influences whether you get one or two babies.
- Rarer fish have longer breeding cooldowns.
- Uniques can emerge randomly from breeding.
- Breeding two uniques does not guarantee a unique offspring (and probably doesn’t increase the odds).
Tiny Aquarium Social Fishkeeping Making Money
Selling Fish
You can sell fish directly from the tank or via the fish menu. Just select the fish and hit the yellow “sell” button. Note: This action is permanent.
To prevent accidents, you can lock a fish using the padlock icon. This makes it unsellable until you manually unlock it.
Game Currencies
There are two forms of currency:
- Coins – Earned by selling fish or from passive income. Used for upgrades, decorations, bait, and shop items.
- Shells – Earned by:
- Selling fish through the online market (unlocked at level 10)
- Leaving reactions on other players’ tanks (up to 5 per day, earning 5 shells each)
Shells are currently used only to purchase fish from other players.
Money Making Tips
- Don’t sell baby fish—they’re worth much more as adults.
- Be patient. Let passive income build up.
- Breed adult fish, sell them, raise their offspring, and repeat the cycle.
- Use the fishing feature to supplement income.
- Don’t worry if it feels slow at first—everyone starts small.
Fishing: How It Works
The fishing mini-game serves both gameplay and social functions.
You can fish solo or in multiplayer lobbies. Be aware: if a host leaves, the lobby ends without warning.
Upgrading your rod increases the catch bar length, making it easier to reel fish in. A better boat increases speed and changes its appearance.
Bait Types
There are four kinds:
- Corn
- Flies
- Worms
- Minnows
The more expensive the bait, the rarer the fish. You can buy up to 10 of each bait per day (40 total). Bait is not always cost-effective, especially early on.
Fishing without bait yields only commons, some junk (redeemed for EXP or coins), and the occasional decorative item.
You can’t catch new fish if your aquariums are full, but the game will warn you.
Social Features
The social side of Tiny Aquarium is fun and rewarding.
Reactions
Right-click another player’s tank to leave a reaction (only one per tank, up to five per day). It doesn’t matter which emoji you choose—it’s just cosmetic.
Collecting reactions can:
- Earn you coins
- Occasionally drop Friendship Eggs, which hatch Friendly Fish (special variants that can’t breed)
Shell Earning
As mentioned, reactions also earn you shells—5 per reaction, up to 25 a day.
Be aware that the reaction reset timer is inconsistent. Also, unused reactions don’t roll over or stack.
Online Market
Unlocked at level 10, the online market lets you list fish for sale in exchange for shells. You cannot browse listings. Instead, you must:
- Use a player’s ID to view their tanks directly
- Randomly browse aquariums
Fish marked with a “sale” icon are available for purchase. Prices vary based on rarity and stats. I usually sell quickly by pricing at the minimum, unless the fish is high-quality.
Additional Tips and Insights
- Drag and drop to move fish between tanks.
- You can’t set a default tank for newly caught fish.
- Fish can be renamed, but there’s no way to revert to their species name automatically.
- Pressing Tab displays species names (unless you renamed the fish).
- Mutation Syringes (available in the daily offer) randomize all stats. Gold syringes offer better odds for high stats. I use them only on my favorite fish.
- Click the “eye” icon in the fish menu to highlight that fish in the tank.
- Eggs and bait do not expire.
- Oceanic, tropical, and freshwater eggs from the daily offer can yield any non-event rarity—but in my experience, I usually get commons.
