Steam Gaming: Tiny Aquarium

Posted on November 6, 2025 by Aywren

I’m a fan of idle collecting games in general, so when I saw Tiny Aquarium - an aquarium game with a fishing mechanic - launch earlier this year, it was pretty much an instant buy. Especially since this game is very affordable, and also includes some social elements that make it stand out from other games similar to it.

I’m not labeling this post as something from my blog backlog for a reason. Unlike some of the other posts I’ve written lately, this is a game that I still pick up from time to time - especially when they hold new events. So, this isn’t so much of a post about a game I haven’t played in a while as it’s a current game I’ve been meaning to write about!

Collecting

Like many idle collecting games, you work to fill out an encyclopedia of creatures – in this case, aquarium life. I’m just going to call them “fish” for this post, despite the fact that you can also have creatures such as snails, shrimps, turtles, and axolotls.

To collect fish, you can purchase eggs from the store, breed existing fish, purchase fish from other breeders, or go fishing in your own little fishing boat. The fact that there are so many different ways to add to your collection is a nice departure from other idle collection games.

Like games of this kind, baby fish take real time to grow to adulthood, when they start earning a certain amount of currency per hour. The rarer the fish, the more money it generates. Though, there’s a little twist to Tiny Aquarium in that fish also have genetic traits that they can pass to their offspring – such as maximum size. So, you can breed for both rarity and quality, which adds a layer to gameplay.

Socialization

Then there’s the semi-social aspects to the game. You can hop around to other people’s fish tanks to see how they’ve decorated, the fish they are collecting, or if they’re selling fish from their tanks.

As you visit, you can leave reactions – positive little emoji that let other people know you liked what you saw. If your Steam friends own the game and are playing, their tanks will appear in your friends list to visit specifically, too.

You can also join open fishing lobbies and fish along with other folks out in the bay. Or you can host your own lobby and let other people join you. However, this is all optional as you can choose just to solo fish if you aren’t up for being social.

Game Features

The fishing mini-game is pretty straightforward, and reminds me of something like the fishing game in Stardew Valley. You have three parts that you can upgrade based on your level: the boat, the fishing rod, and the bait. You can also earn special currency in the game that allows you to upgrade the cosmetic look of your boat.

Anything you catch while fishing you can keep if you want. If you don’t have a need for what you fish up, you can automatically sell it and get right back to fishing.

The game also features other elements such as daily quests, which is a list of goals to achieve which provides small rewards. And, of course, you can level up to buy more tanks, which can each be upgraded to hold 30 fish. In-game currency you earn over time can purchase decorations for your tanks and upgrades to fish food and sponges that clean the tanks.

Content Releases

I’ve been quite impressed by the amount of content that’s been released for free to Tiny Aquarium since the game launched. This isn’t an early access title, for the record, and it does have a demo for you to try out.

The game has fairly frequent events that allow you to complete tasks to unlock special fish and new themed decorations. They just had one such event for Halloween, and I put together a little spooky-themed tank from it. Looking forward to seeing what they do for Christmas!

They also released new content, such as the shrimps. The fun thing about shrimps is that there are some unique shirmps who are musical in nature. When you manage to unlock one through hatching them from shrimp eggs, the music of your fish tank will change. In fact, you can put a full band of shrimps together – drums, keyboards, saxophone, and the like – and you can hear the music change based on which shrimps instruments are in your tank! Much fun! 

Another nice thing about Tiny Aquarium is that you can “freeze” your aquariums, which means your fish don’t require care, age, or get sick. But the aquariums also do not earn money, which is fair enough. You can pretty much push the pause button any time you want and come back to it just the way you left it. 

If you enjoy idle collector games, and fishing games especially, I’d say give Tiny Aquarium’s demo a try and see if it’s for you!

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