Version 3.7.0 Released

Aquarium Genesis v3.7.0 – From Aquarium Game to Living Ecosystem

With version 3.7.0, Aquarium Genesis has reached a major milestone.

What originally started as a comparatively simple aquarium simulation has gradually evolved into a much deeper ecosystem simulator in which fish, plants, microorganisms, water chemistry, genetics, diseases, technology and player decisions are increasingly connected.

The main goal of the recent updates was simple:

Stop simulating more features. Start simulating more relationships.

And v3.7.0 is the strongest step in that direction so far.

A Real Aquarium Ecosystem

The aquarium is no longer just a collection of independent fish.

Fish produce waste.

Waste increases the organic load.

Organic matter is processed by microorganisms.

Ammonium and ammonia are converted into nitrite and then nitrate.

Plants consume nutrients and CO2.

Plants produce oxygen during the light phase but consume oxygen at night.

Algae react to light, nitrate, phosphate, competition and water stability.

Filters contain biological bacteria that can be damaged by poor maintenance, oxygen shortages or medication.

Substrate stores detritus and nutrients.

Snails disturb and clean parts of the substrate.

Everything is becoming part of the same ecological system.

A heavily stocked aquarium therefore behaves very differently from a lightly stocked planted tank.

Individual Fish

Every fish is now much more than a moving sprite.

Fish can have:

• individual IDs
• species
• sex
• age
• life stage
• size and weight
• genetics
• colors and patterns
• health
• hunger
• energy
• stress
• fear
• social needs
• aggression
• preferred aquarium zones
• parents and grandparents
• generation
• breeding status
• immunity
• injuries
• social relationships

Fish also make decisions through a utility-based behavior system.

Depending on their condition and environment, they can search for food, join a school, flee, rest, defend territory, search the substrate, court another fish or protect offspring.

Social fish kept alone behave differently from fish in a healthy group.

Aggressive individuals can create territories.

Subordinate fish can learn to avoid dominant animals.

Genetics and Breeding

Breeding has become one of the core long-term systems.

Fish inherit genetic traits from their parents.

Genes influence things such as:

• coloration
• color intensity
• patterns
• body size
• growth
• fertility
• stress resistance
• disease resistance
• aggression
• metabolism
• temperature tolerance
• lifespan

Dominant, recessive and intermediate traits are supported.

Rare mutations can appear naturally.

The result is that breeding lines can slowly change over multiple generations instead of offspring simply receiving random colors.

Parentage, grandparents and generations are stored.

Inbreeding is also tracked and can reduce vitality.

Outcrossing can restore genetic diversity.

Long-term breeding lines can therefore become genuinely different from the original population.

Life Cycles

Fish now progress through real life stages.

Depending on the species, animals can pass through:

Larva → Juvenile → Subadult → Adult → Old

Reproduction is no longer always an instant “spawn fish” function.

Livebearers can become pregnant.

Egg-laying species produce persistent eggs.

Eggs require incubation before they hatch.

Parental care can influence survival.

Young fish are physically smaller and mature over time.

This creates much more interesting population histories across many generations.

Health, Diseases and Quarantine

Diseases are no longer designed as random punishments.

Risk is connected to actual conditions.

Examples include:

• poor water quality
• stress
• injuries
• overcrowding
• weak immune systems
• temperature problems
• newly purchased animals
• poor nutrition

Diseases can now include:

• exposure
• incubation
• symptoms
• disease progression
• treatment
• recovery
• immunity
• possible relapse

New fish may arrive already exposed to a pathogen without immediately showing symptoms.

This is where quarantine becomes important.

The quarantine tank has its own water parameters, biological filter condition and disease pressure.

Medication can also damage beneficial bacteria, meaning treatment itself can create secondary water-quality problems if used carelessly.

Plants, Substrate and Microbiology

Plants are no longer decorative objects.

They interact with their local environment.

Plant growth is affected by:

• light
• CO2
• nutrients
• root conditions
• oxygen around the roots
• substrate compaction
• local microbial activity

The substrate is divided into simulation zones.

These zones can accumulate:

• organic material
• nutrients
• biofilm
• oxygen deficits
• anaerobic activity
• detritus

Food leftovers and dead plant material now enter this system.

Microorganisms mineralize organic matter and return nutrients to the ecosystem.

This means the bottom of the aquarium is now an ecological system of its own.

Multiple Algae Types

Instead of one generic “algae” value, the simulation now distinguishes several forms.

These include:

• green algae
• filamentous algae
• diatoms
• suspended algae / green water

Different algae respond differently to lighting, nutrients and competition.

Snails and algae eaters can reduce surface algae.

They cannot magically consume suspended algae floating in the water.

UV sterilizers and water changes are much more relevant against green water.

Multiple Aquariums

Version 3.4 introduced one of the biggest architectural changes so far:

You can now own several independent aquariums.

Current tank types include:

• community aquarium
• nano aquarium
• breeding aquarium
• planted aquarium
• large aquarium

Each tank has its own:

• fish
• plants
• eggs
• shrimp
• snails
• water chemistry
• filter
• equipment
• substrate
• biological state
• history
• statistics

Fish can also be transferred between established tanks without losing their identity or genetics.

Inactive aquariums continue running through a lower-cost background simulation.

Economy and Long-Term Progression

The economy was also rebuilt to support multiple aquariums.

All aquariums now contribute to operating costs.

Equipment maintenance matters.

Selling large quantities of the same fish can saturate the market and reduce future prices.

This prevents a single endlessly reproduced species from becoming an infinite-money exploit.

Rare genetically interesting fish can appear through the Genetic Broker.

Long-term breeding programs reward players for establishing specific traits, generations or genetic lines.

Breeder reputation and progression now provide goals beyond simply earning more money.

Aquarium Observation

Version 3.6 focused heavily on making the simulation understandable.

Fish can now display real state markers for things such as:

• stress
• disease
• injury
• fear
• breeding
• parental care
• courtship

The inspection system also explains more of the reasons behind a fish’s current condition.

Instead of only showing:

Stress: 72%

the game can provide context such as:

• poor schooling conditions
• repeated aggression
• unsuitable water
• lack of hiding places
• disease
• overcrowding

The same principle applies to the aquarium itself.

The new Aquarium Pulse system connects visible problems with likely causes.

Aquarium History and Statistics

The simulation now keeps a much stronger history of what happens inside each aquarium.

Important moments can include:

• births
• deaths
• new generations
• rare mutations
• disease events
• transfers
• breeding milestones
• system problems

Aquarium history can be filtered by category.

Statistics also track population, water chemistry, ecosystem health and economy over time.

The goal is to make it possible to understand not only what the aquarium looks like now, but how it reached that state.

Version 3.7 – Performance and Scale

The newest update focuses on something that became increasingly important as the simulation grew:

scale.

A deep ecosystem is not very useful if the simulation collapses when populations become large.

Before the v3.7 optimization work, very large populations became increasingly expensive.

A baseline test showed approximately:

• 1,000 fish: ~10.8 ms simulation time
• 2,500 fish: ~53 ms
• 5,000 fish: ~141 ms

That was far too expensive.

So the fish simulation architecture was changed.

Adaptive Simulation LOD

Large populations now use adaptive simulation detail.

All fish continue moving and existing in the aquarium.

However, expensive systems such as social perception, food decisions, utility AI and environmental evaluation can be distributed across deterministic update groups.

This means not every fish has to perform every expensive calculation during every simulation step.

Smaller aquariums still receive the full-detail simulation.

The aggressive optimization only activates when populations become very large.

Spatial Search

Fish do not compare themselves against every other fish.

Nearby animals are found using a spatial grid.

This avoids the classic:

Fish × every other fish

problem that would otherwise become O(n²).

The spatial grid itself also updates less frequently when populations become extremely large.

Cached Water Calculations

Water chemistry values used by thousands of fish are now calculated once per relevant simulation step and reused.

A fish no longer needs to independently recalculate the same oxygen, ammonia or water-quality values thousands of times.

Compact Large-Population Saves

Another problem appeared during the 5,000-fish test.

A normal readable save containing 5,000 individual fish was approximately:

9.47 MiB

That is dangerously large for browser storage.

Version 3.7 therefore introduces a compact internal fish-save format.

The same aquarium now requires roughly:

4.23 MiB

for its internal browser save.

Exported backups remain readable.

The optimized format is primarily used internally where storage efficiency matters.

Current Large Population Performance

In the final v3.7 release test:

The 5,000-fish test remained numerically valid and the complete population survived Save → Load.

This does not mean that 5,000 fully animated fish will run perfectly on every mobile phone.

But it gives the simulation architecture considerably more headroom than before.

Simulation Observatory

A new developer simulation monitor has also been added.

The debug mode can inspect:

• FPS
• render time
• simulation time
• entity processing
• AI updates
• population
• active simulation LOD
• spatial-grid interval
• environmental simulation
• economy
• background aquariums
• save size
• memory information where supported

Stress tests can generate:

• 500 fish
• 1,000 fish
• 2,500 fish
• 5,000 fish

This gives future development a much stronger profiling and regression-testing foundation.

Savegame Compatibility

The current version uses:

Save Version 27

Migration tests were performed for saves from versions:

20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26.

Older saves are migrated instead of silently discarded.

Long-Term Testing

The simulation has also gone through several accelerated stability tests.

The current regression suite includes:

• breeding across multiple generations
• 30-day ecosystem simulations
• 60-day population simulations
• 365-day numerical stability tests
• multiple aquariums
• 500+ fish browser tests
• 1,000 / 2,500 / 5,000 fish stress tests
• water extremes
• disease treatment
• quarantine
• Save/Load
• save migrations
• shop transactions
• mobile layouts
• touch input

The latest 60-day reference simulation produced:

194 births 201 living fish Generation 4

The 365-day numerical test completed without NaN or Infinity values.

What Comes Next?

The major simulation architecture is now in place.

The next phase should not simply add another huge pile of systems.

The current plan is to focus on a Release Candidate / Polish phase.

That means testing Aquarium Genesis from the perspective of an actual new player:

• start a new game
• set up the first aquarium
• cycle the tank
• add plants
• buy the first fish
• learn feeding
• experience breeding
• handle the first disease
• unlock another aquarium
• establish breeding lines
• manage the long-term economy

The focus will be on finding systems that technically work but are confusing, badly explained, poorly balanced or annoying during normal play.

Mobile usability, touch controls, tutorial flow, balancing, text clarity and edge cases will receive particular attention.

Aquarium Genesis Today

Aquarium Genesis is no longer just a game about putting fish into a tank.

It is becoming a simulation where:

a fish has parents, genetics and a history.

A population can slowly change over generations.

A plant can alter the habitat around it.

A sick newcomer can affect an entire aquarium.

A neglected filter can change water chemistry.

A successful breeding line can become economically valuable.

A heavily populated aquarium can destabilize itself.

And sometimes the most interesting thing the player can do is simply watch.

That has always been the real goal:

to make every aquarium develop its own story.

Thank you for following the development of Aquarium Genesis.

More to come.