Inside Social Games

With the recent boom in virtual aquarium games, now’s a good chance to share some cheats, tips and tricks. The focus today is on one of the more realistically designed ones, Fish World from Tall Tree Games. In our endeavors to further create the most beautifully designed aquarium, we actually discovered a few dirty tricks that might just help you get a step ahead of your friends.

Trick #1: The Black Market Thief – Stealing Fish

Okay, so it has nothing to do with the black market, but it sounds cooler, no? As many players of Fish World are aware, players were recently allowed to steal fish from their friends’ aquariums. First off, shame on you! They work hard for their fishes! Okay, maybe not. Anyway, every 12 hours, you are capable of stealing any one fish from another aquarium (unless they have what is called, a “guardian crustacean” to protect them). The victim then has four hours to claim it back, before it can be sold.

Here’s the catch though, you cannot sell your stolen fish except in bulk (four or more). Obviously, this makes disposing of the evidence a little time consuming, and if you don’t have that bulk, there is extra time in which they can be taken back. Luckily, we accidentally discovered that once that four hour grace period is up, you can actually sell the fish individually, making for a quick profit. Ethical… no, but raising fish is serious business.

Trick #2: The Fish Farmer – Faster Leveling

This one might seem obvious after the fact, but evidently many people don’t realize it right away. When players start up the game, they generally focus on making their tank look great. Of course they do. It’s the point of the game. However, this includes more than just decoration, but nice looking fish as well. The thing is that nicer looking fish take longer to grow. Here’s the deal: In order to get better, more profitable fish as well as better decorations and gifts, one has to be a higher level, and to gain experience, players must clean their tanks, drop treats in friends’ tanks, and of course, sell their own fish.

In order to not go bankrupt, you want to wait until a fish is fully mature (as it is worth more than when you bought the egg). As such, it is best to purchase fish such as the Green Snapper (10 coins) or the Clown Fish (20 coins) that mature in four hours and 24 hours respectively. This will allow you to pack your tank(s) full of more fish and level up faster. Take care though, as too many fish will significantly slow down most computers.

As a side note: Investing into extra tanks of your own to clean helps raise level faster too (as well as gold).

Trick $3: The Chronic Cleaner – “Infinite” Money

If you need a little extra coin, you actually don’t have to wait hours to sell more fish, clean your tank, or express love to your fish (that was a little creepy to say). In Fish World, players are able to visit other friends’ aquariums and clean up all the algae that has built up. Each patch of algae that is cleaned is worth one coin. Not a lot in small numbers, but a completely neglected tank is worth 10.

Rather than simply saying, “invite more friends,” it is better to invite at least one that doesn’t really play. Actually, they don’t have to do anything more than create their tank. They don’t have to even put anything in it (frankly, this is better because it loads quicker). After a few hours, the tank will have reached that dirtied value of 10 coins. Clean it. Now, click on that tank again from the friends ranking at the bottom of the screen. It will reload, and look: It’s dirty again. It will remain that dirty until the owner comes and cleans it themselves, thus making for a great way to earn some extra coin (assuming you have some patience).

These are only a few of the possible tricks and tips that probably exist within Fish World. Likely, there are many more that we haven’t discovered yet, and as a game becomes more popular, you can bet that the number of new tricks will surface as well. That said, however, many “tricks” may not be intended by the developers and are merely an oversight in design. Nonetheless, it is not technically cheating as it does not use any specific game mechanics in a way they were unintended. “Sell Fish” sells a selected fish, selling fish earns experiences regardless of type, level, or quantity, and visiting a friend’s tank and cleaning it is still visiting a friend and cleaning it… it just doesn’t stay clean. That said, these are still little tricks that may not stay around forever and could very well be “fixed” in the future, so make use of them while you can.