Build Your Own Virtual Aquarium with Tap Fish

Build Your Own Virtual Aquarium with Tap Fish
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If you like exotic fish and you love the idea of breeding them and setting up a fish tank, but you don’t have the cash to do it for real, then Tap Fish will appeal to you. It’s not really a game – it’s more of a pet simulation. You can buy fish eggs and then care for your fish as they grow to adulthood. You can breed them to create new fish and you can sell excess fish for profit. You’ll have to keep the tank clean and feed your fish regularly or they will die. This title does demand regular attention so you’ll want to check in every few hours.

Like so many mobile releases nowadays Tap Fish is free to play but you can access extra content or speed things along by spending real cash to get some in-game currency. Your basic currency is coins and you can earn them slowly by growing, breeding and selling your fish. There are also Fish Bucks which are a great deal harder to come by. They can be used to purchase some of the rarer fish and to buy other bits and pieces that will help your aquarium grow.

Tap Fish Tank

The easiest way to get Fish Bucks is to spend real cash, but there are a few other options and we’ll take a look at them in a moment.

The game looks great and that’s the main attraction. With vibrant colored fish swimming around and a host of options to spruce up the tank with plants and castles you can create a fascinating collection. The fact you can breed different fish to create new fish is the real addictive hook. You also have a host of tools and options to access via the menu. It is worth playing through the tutorial at the start because there’s quite a lot to get to grips with.

This is a dip and out kind of game, it won’t command your attention for very long at a single sitting, because fish take a while to grow and breed. You have to be online to play it so I’d advise saving it for when you have a Wi-Fi connection.

Basic Tips

Tap Fish Menu

You can show your fish love once every three hours and it will earn you 25 coins and 2 XP. Just select Love from the menu which is accessible via the arrow in the bottom right corner.

You need to feed your fish regularly. They have what looks like a speech bubble when they’re hungry and you can select Food from the menu and feed them. You’ll earn coins and XP for keeping them all well fed. If you don’t feed a fish for 48 hours it will die and you’ll need to spend Fish Bucks to revive or flush it.

If you’re not going to be able to feed your fish for a while then buy a food brick from the Store option in the menu.

If you hit the “i” icon at the top left you can add a new tank. Just remember to check through all of your tanks when you are cleaning and feeding. You only get two tanks for free, but you can add many more if you pay for them.

You can decorate your fish tank with various options in the Store accessible from the menu. Decorations make your fish happier and if they reach maximum happiness then you can sell them for a 20% premium.

Tap on your individual fish to get a full set of stats showing how old they are, how happy they are, how hungry they are and how much you’ll get if you sell them. You can also name your fish in here.

You can have up to 25 different species of fish in each tank and a maximum of 50 fish.

You can start off earning by filling your tank with Green Snappers since they only take four hours to grow to adulthood. They offer the best profit ratio to start with to build up your coins and XP.

In terms of exotic fish the Banded Butterfly will give you the best return.

Breeding Your Fish

Tap Fish Breed

When you are buying fish eggs via the menu look out for fish that have the word “breed-able” next to them and start there.

You have to select two fish to breed and you do this by selecting the Breed option from the menu and placing two fish in your Breeding Lab. A list of breed-able fish in your tank appears on the left and you can select two to go in the tank. You get one lab for free but you can purchase more. You always have to put fish in here to breed them and it takes three days for you to breed a new fish. Make sure you breed fish of different species to create exciting new fish. Some fish can’t be bred so if you find the available fish go grey when you put one type in the lab you’ll need to cancel and choose another. You can also spend Fish Bucks to speed up the process if you want to.

If you successfully breed fish and create new fish you can unlock trophies. Some of these trophies will also give you a mini-game option. It’s not really much of a game though – you just get the option to select three chests from a group and they have random rewards inside.

There are a huge number of combinations possible and some of the most exotic fish can earn you huge amounts.

Getting Fish Bucks

Tap Fish Tank 2

There are ways to pick up some Fish Bucks for free. Like many freemium games Tap Fish will reward you for liking the game on Facebook or Twitter. If you’ve got the Android version then giving it a good review in the Android Market will earn you a reward.

Make sure you check in daily to earn rewards. Every five days you check off in a row will give you a free jackpot spin for a prize.

If you hit the Fish Bucks icon at the top of the screen and choose Earn Free Fish Bucks you’ll find a big list of offers. You can earn Fish Bucks for installing specific apps and games (it won’t work if the app is already installed). You can also earn for reaching specific levels in a game or performing certain actions. This is quite a clever cross promotion idea by the developers, but it won’t appeal to everyone. Since many of the apps are free it is an easy way to earn some Fish Bucks. You will need to run the game or app at least once to claim your reward and it will take at least an hour after that before Tap Fish updates.

Got anymore Tap Fish tips? Post a comment and let us know.

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