Loading...
Loading...
Aquariums - Version 8 vs Version 9
Aug 7, 2026, 10:06 AM
Image pass: matched each screenshot to the topic it illustrates and replaced the placeholder alt text with a description of what the image shows
Sep 14, 2026, 01:22 AM
Expanded the aquatic species table from 17 to the 28 catalogued aquarium species, adding shoaling flags, exhibit-capable species and edition columns
11Aquariums are one of Planet Zoo 2's headline additions and a first for the series, giving a zoo somewhere to keep fully aquatic species. Frontier describes them as a brand new habitat type rather than a placeable tank, and building one works much like building a terrestrial habitat: place barriers, set their size, orientation, and height, then attach a staff gate and connect it to the path network so keepers can reach the animals. Ready-made blueprints cover the same ground for players who would rather drop in a finished build, and community creations are available through the workshop described under Building and Construction. The colour tone of the water itself can be tuned to taste.22Water Conditions55Aquatic animals share most of their welfare requirements with land animals, including space, food, stress, and a suitable environment. What sets them apart is the water itself, and three properties of it have to be managed.77PropertyHow It WorksSalinityCritical to survival. A network of water filters attached to each aquarium supplies its water and can be configured for freshwater, saltwater, or brackish conditions. A saltwater species will not survive in fresh water.TemperatureSpecies have their own temperature preferences. Water temperature is set through the staff gate attached to the aquarium, alongside options such as the tank's lighting.CleanlinessDirty water makes animals harder for guests to see and raises the chance of disease. The filtration network keeps water clean, and staff still need to suit up and dive in to clean the windows.99Aquariums also degrade if neglected. Left without maintenance they can spring a leak, and the different barrier types on offer give varying levels of protection against cracks appearing.1010Viewing and Layout1212Getting guests a good view is a design problem in its own right. Adding a guest gate lets a tunnel be built through the water so visitors walk beneath the surface, and tunnels can sit at different heights within the same tank for multiple vantage points. Barriers can be modified the same way terrestrial habitat barriers can, including one-way glass and concave or convex sections.1414The bigger difference from a land habitat is verticality. Where a terrestrial enclosure is usually designed around wide, well-shaped ground, a good aquarium is built upward and downward: complex multi-storey and subterranean tanks are supported, and players willing to use invisible habitat barriers and scenery can shape naturalistic underwater spaces instead of obvious boxes.1616How Aquatic Animals Behave1919Aquatic animals move through all three dimensions of a tank, so almost every interaction had to be rebuilt for them. Most species have a preferred position in the water column, abstracted from real depth zones so that players are not expected to dig hundreds of metres down. A Blacktip Reef Shark tends to stay nearer the surface than a Great Hammerhead, for example. The seafloor is a separate navigation surface, with animals aligning to the ground, rocks, coral, plants, and enrichment placed on it.2121Rest needed its own answer. Fish do not sleep the way land animals do, so Frontier added a hover state in which an animal drifts with little propulsive movement, while other species settle onto the seafloor overnight.2424Shoals2626Schooling species are handled as shoals: a single group entity rather than hundreds of individuals. Both the player and the game manage the shoal as one thing, and even welfare is tracked for the group rather than per fish. Movement runs on a flocking system that controls the shoal's direction, cohesion, and separation, and its shoaling parameters shift with circumstances. A shoal that meets a predator packs tighter and moves faster for a while afterwards, and shoals also move out of the way of larger animals and of staff divers.2828Complex Individuals3030Larger aquatic animals are simulated individually, with welfare and behaviour as detailed as any land animal's. Species that must keep swimming to breathe, such as the Blacktip Reef Shark, kept moving erratically in early builds until Frontier reproduced a real aquarium behaviour called window surfing, in which a shark follows the edge of its tank to make use of long straight runs. Paths are now generated along barrier segments with a probability weighting rather than picking random points in open water, and other large species use the system occasionally too. The Ocean Sunfish, for instance, will drift along the viewing glass to look at the guests.3232Individual quirks got the same attention. A pufferfish puffing up is normally a stress response, but Frontier liked the animation enough to make it a rare ordinary behaviour as well.3434Feeding and Foraging3636Underwater feeding needed a new approach because there is no dry ground to leave food on. Keepers now generate free-floating feeders so fully aquatic animals still get fed even when a player has not placed a feeding station, and aquatic species can forage from specific underwater foliage in the same way land animals graze from trees and bushes.3838Confirmed Aquatic Species4040Aquatic entries in the in-game reference span reef predators, open-ocean swimmers, freshwater fish, and aquatic reptiles. The full catalogued roster, with taxonomy and conservation data, is listed under Animals and Welfare.41+Twenty-eight of the 102 species catalogued in the Zoopedia as of 13 September 2026 can be kept in an aquarium. They span reef predators, open-ocean swimmers, freshwater fish, and aquatic reptiles, and twelve of them can equally be kept in an exhibit instead, which gives the player a choice of presentation for the same animal. Sixteen are flagged as shoaling species and are managed as a single group entity rather than as individuals. The full roster with taxonomy and conservation data is listed under Animals and Welfare.4242SpeciesGroupFound InBlacktip Reef SharkSharkIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsIndo-Pacific Leopard SharkSharkIndo-Pacific reefs and lagoonsOcellated Eagle RayRayIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsOcean SunfishFishWorldwideHawksbill TurtleReptileWorldwide tropical and temperate oceansRed LionfishFishWestern Indo-Pacific OceanHumphead WrasseFishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsSchooling BannerfishFishIndo-Pacific reefsBlackspotted PufferFishIndo-Pacific reefs and lagoonsGolden TrevallyFishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsIndo-Pacific SergeantFishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsDolphinfishFishAtlantic, Indian, and Pacific OceansPacific SardineFishPacific, Indian, and Atlantic OceansAfrican TigerfishFreshwater fishAfricaBlunthead CichlidFreshwater fishAfricaBrown TroutFreshwater fishEurope, Western Asia, North AfricaClown LoachFreshwater fishAsia44+SpeciesGroupFound InShoalingAlso Kept InEditionAfrican TigerfishRay-finned fishAfricaYesExhibitBaseBlackspotted PufferRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and lagoonsNoAquarium onlyBaseBlacktip Reef SharkShark or rayIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsNoAquarium onlyBaseBlue and Gold FusilierRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefsYesExhibitDeluxeBluespine UnicornfishRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsYesExhibitBaseBlunthead CichlidRay-finned fishAfricaYesExhibitBaseBoeseman's RainbowfishRay-finned fishAsiaYesExhibitBaseBrown TroutRay-finned fishEurope, Western Asia, North Africa (Atlas Mountains)YesExhibitBaseClown LoachRay-finned fishAsiaYesExhibitBaseClown TriggerfishRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsNoAquarium onlyBaseCommon RuddRay-finned fishEurope, AsiaYesExhibitBaseDolphinfishRay-finned fishAtlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific OceanNoAquarium onlyBaseGolden TrevallyRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsYesAquarium onlyBaseGreat HammerheadShark or rayWorldwide tropical and warm temperate oceansNoAquarium onlyDeluxeHawksbill TurtleReptileWorldwide tropical and temperate oceansNoAquarium onlyBaseHumphead WrasseRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsNoAquarium onlyBaseIndo-Pacific Leopard SharkShark or rayIndo-Pacific reefs and lagoonsNoAquarium onlyBaseIndo-Pacific SergeantRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsYesExhibitBaseLongfin BatfishRay-finned fishWestern Pacific coasts and reefsYesAquarium onlyDeluxeOcean SunfishRay-finned fishWorldwideNoAquarium onlyBaseOcellated Eagle RayShark or rayIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsNoAquarium onlyBasePacific Bluefin TunaRay-finned fishPacific OceanYesAquarium onlyBasePacific SardineRay-finned fishPacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and Atlantic OceanYesAquarium onlyBasePalette SurgeonfishRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsYesExhibitBaseRed LionfishRay-finned fishWestern Indo-Pacific OceanNoAquarium onlyBaseSailfin SnapperRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and coastsNoAquarium onlyBaseSchooling BannerfishRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefsYesExhibitBaseYellow TangRay-finned fishIndo-Pacific reefs and lagoonsYesExhibitBase45+Three of the aquarium species come with the Deluxe Edition rather than the base game, as covered under Editions and Pre-Orders.46+Aquariums sit alongside the new aviaries as the two habitat types that most clearly separate the sequel from its predecessor.
