Insaniquarium Deluxe FAQ by TStodden ([email protected]) version 2.002 - Silver Edition ================================================================================ 0) TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------------- Tip: You can easily jump to any part of this guide by selecting the section you want & search for it (by hitting Ctrl+F). Some Browsers (& text editors) may require your to copy the section (by hitting Ctrl+C) first. 1) Introduction 2) Controls 3) Game Modes 4) Fishes 4.1) Guppies 4.2) Carnivores 4.3) Star Catchers 4.4) Guppy Crunchers 4.5) Beetle Munchers 4.6) Breeders 4.7) Ultravores 4.8) Ball Fish 5) Aliens 5.1) Sylvester 5.2) Balrog 5.3) Gus 5.4) Destructor 5.5) PsychoSquid 5.6) Ulysses 5.7) Bilaterus 5.8) Cyrax 5.9) Mini-Sylvester 6) Your Pets 6.1) Stinky the Snail 6.2) Niko the Oyster 6.3) Itchy the Swordfish 6.4) Prego the Momma Fish 6.5) Zorf the Seahorse 6.6) Clyde the Jellyfish 6.7) Vert the Skeleton Fish 6.8) Rufus the Fiddler Crab 6.9) Meryl the Mermaid 6.10) Wadsworth the Whale 6.11) Seymour the Sea Turtle 6.12) Shrapnel the MechaFish 6.13) Gumbo the Angler 6.14) Blip the Dolphin 6.15) Rhubarb the Hermit Crab 6.16) Nimbus the Manta Ray 6.17) Amp the Electric Eel 6.18) Gash the Shark 6.19) Angie the Angelfish 6.20) Presto the Tadpole 6.21) Brinkley the Scuba Diving Elephant (Bonus 1) 6.22) Nostradamus the Nosefish (Bonus 2) 6.23) Stanley the Small Sea Serpent (Bonus 3) 6.24) Walter the Penguin (Bonus 4) 7) Pet Combos 8) Adventure Walkthrough 9) Time Trial Walkthrough 10) Challenge Mode Walkthrough 11) Virtual Tank Walkthrough 12) Miscellaneous Q & A 13) Tips & Cheats 13.1) Keywords 13.2) Secrets 14) Sandbox Mode 15) Bug Notices A) Acknowledgements B) Further Reading C) Version History D) Copyright Information E) The Final Word 1) Introduction ------------------ Welcome to the world of Insaniquarium, the crazy, fast-pace game where you try to raise your fish against the alien invaders who consider your tank as their "All-you-can-eat Buffet". The controls are pretty simple, as it's mostly a point-n-click deal. You click on the tank to feed your fish. Click on money & treasures to cash them in & increase your wallet. You click on the aliens in order to destroy them & protect your tank. Repeat the process until you have enough money to buy the 3 egg shell pieces in order to complete the tank. It may sound simple & the first few tanks may be easy, but as you progress through the game, you'll find our how hectic it can be. 2) Controls -------------- The controls of the game are very simple... * Left Click -- Select items (in menus & game bar) -- Feed Fish (Costs $5 / unit) -- Collect Money / Treasure -- Attack Aliens * Right Click -- Taps Glass... which practically does nothing. * Spacebar -- Pauses game NOTE: If at any time the game loses focus while playing, the game will pause automatically. This will prevent any accidental disasters that could occur from an accidental click. 3) Game Modes ---------------- In Insaniquarium Deluxe, there's 4 ways to play the game... 2 of the modes are locked at the start, but you can unlock them after completing the first tank. The walkthroughs are listed further down this FAQ, so only the a basic description of the modes are listed here. * Adventure Mode / Bonus Adventure Mode * Timed Mode * Challenge Mode * Virtual Tank 3.1) Adventure Mode / Bonus Adventure Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the core of the game itself. The object is the make your Tank thrive in order to make enough money to purchase the 3 shell pieces for each level. There are 5 levels per tank, each of them more challenging than the last level you completed. You'll get to play a bonus game after complete each tank to pick up shells to use in the virtual tank. You'll unlock the other game modes as you complete the adventure. When you complete the adventure, it'll change to "Bonus" Adventure Mode. Bonus Adventure Mode is exactly the same game, but you have all the pets available to choose from AND you'll get a bonus game after each level. While the exact strategy for this mode will be explained in greater detail later in the guide, the rough information for each tank is... * Tank 1 -- Start with 2 Guppies Buy a Carnivore to continue * Tank 2 -- Start with 2 Guppies Successfully use a Star Potion on a large Guppy... Buy a Star Catcher to continue * Tank 3 -- Start with 2 Guppies Buy a Guppy Cruncher... Buy a Beetle Muncher to continue * Tank 4 -- Start with 1 Breeder Buy a Carnivore... Buy an Ultravore to continue * Tank 5 -- BOSS BATTLE!!! 3.2) Timed Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ORIGINALLY LOCKED -- REQUIRES COMPLETING TANKS TO UNLOCK As soon as you complete Tank 1, you can start playing this mode. As you complete the other tanks, you'll be able to play them as well. This mode is quick & simple... Squeeze out as much money from your Tank tank within the time limit provided & is a great option for those who only have a limited amount of time on their hands. Tank 1 is the easiest, but you only get 5 minutes while the other Tanks are a bit more challenging & you have 10 minutes to crank out the dough. While you are permitted to bring in 3 pets of your own, you can choose to buy additional pets if you wish with an exponential increase in price with every purchase. When your time in the tank is up, you're awarded shells in the amounting to 5% of your final score (So a score of $1000 would net you 50 Shells). The better you play, the more shells you can earn! 3.3) Challenge Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ORIGINALLY LOCKED -- REQUIRES COMPLETING ADVENTURE MODE TO UNLOCK This mode is obviously NOT for the feint of hard as it's the pinnacle of hardcore challenges I've seen. If you thought Adventure mode was nothing, go ahead & give this mode a try... but don't yell at me for not warning you about the difficulty! Because of the difficulty, you must complete Tank 1 before you can even attempt Tank 2 & so on. There are pretty much 2 major changes to the game that makes it extremely hard: 1) All item prices increase at a rate of 1% every 5 seconds (or 12% per minute). 2) Alien attacks gets fiercer every 6 minutes. If you can manage to get past these mammoth obstacles & buy an egg piece, all the item prices return to their original amounts. If you can do this quickly, you may have a decent chance of clearing the tank. If you happen to clear a tank, you'll be awarded with a specific number of shells based on the tank you're playing. Tank 1: 2,000 Shells Tank 2: 5,000 Shells Tank 3: 10,000 Shells Tank 4: 20,000 Shells 3.4) Virtual Tank ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This mode is available at the start & serves more for relaxation than anything as the standard game rules don't completely apply here. This is where all the Shells you earn from the other game modes can be spent on fish for your tank & accessories. All fish food (including Feeder Fish) are provided for free & all the carnivorous fish & aliens are trained NOT to eat your store-bought fish. While you only need to feed your fish 3 times per day (EVERY DAY), they'll start producing shells while they're happy to help supplement your wallet. You can even set the game to run your Virtual Tank as your screen saver so you can enjoy your fish without playing the game. 4) Your Fish --------------- Since you going to spend a lot of time these fish, I thought you might want to know about them... How much they cost, what they eat & how much money they'll make for you. While I won't go into detail for every possible variation of the fish in the game (as it would be ridiculously long), I will give you the information for the game modes & the virtual tank. Just so you're aware. "(Game)" refers to the game modes & "(Tank)" refers to the virtual tank. 4.1) Guppies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: $100 (Game) / 25 - 50,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : All Fish Food (Game / Tank), ect. (Tank) Drops: Small -- Nothing (Game / Tank) * Medium -- Silver Coin ($15, Game) / Silver Shell (1 Shell, Tank) * Large -- Gold Coin ($35, Game) / Gold Shell (2 Shells, Tank) * King -- Diamond ($200, Game) / Blue Shell (5 Shells, Tank) * Star -- Stars ($40, Game) * Note: Requires usage of Star Potion on Large Guppies Special Notes: Unavailable for purchase in Tank 4 Guppies are the most basic fish you'll deal with in the game. These guys will be the most frequent fish you'll have in your tanks & eventually run into overpopulation problems in Tank 4. They require the most care, but they're your baseline flow of cash, so you need to take good care of them. You'll start with 2 guppies in each level up to Tank 3-5, but you can get more as you progress in each level. It doesn't take too long to get your starter guppies to medium size & about a minute to reach large with proper feeding. However, you really have to work hard at keeping your guppies alive if you want a King Guppy as it takes them roughly 10 minutes (from birth / purchase, with proper care) to reach this level & by this time, they would have to survive a couple of alien attacks in the process. Star Guppies are just large guppies that have been fed with the special star potion. This is require ONLY for Tank 2 in order to progress through the levels as they'll feed the Star Catchers, if you can avoid clicking on too many stars. In the virtual tank, you can buy the basic guppy for 25 Shells. However, the rarest guppies will run you a princely sum of 50,000 Shells. The basics only require standard fish food, but the rare guppies will usually require a special type of food that will require you to feed them manually... or at least until you can find somebody to provide for their needs. The only way to get "King Guppies" in the virtual tank is through the birth from a breeder... so don't get your hopes up that the little guppy you bought for 25 Shells will eventually turn into a king guppy. Zorf will be able to handle the food needs for the guppies that don't require any special food. 4.2) Carnivores ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: $1,000 (Game) / 100 - 50,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : Small Guppies (Game / Tank), ect. (Tank) Drops: Diamonds ($200, Game) / Blue Shells (5 Shells) Special Note: Available for purchase ONLY in Tanks 1 & 4 Carnivores are the next step in the big food chain. They're important in Tank 1 in order to unlock the shell fragments in the shop bar. They return in Tank 4, but now are on the other side of the chain. Carnivores will eat your guppies, but they only go after the small ones (that you can buy or breed) since the medium & large guppies are too large for their mouths to snack on them like popcorn. Since the carnivores drop diamonds, they can make up for snacking on the guppies by give you a 2:1 return on their food investment. In the virtual tank, you can buy a basic carnivore for 100 Shells, but you can choose to purchase a rare one for 50,000... if you want. The basics will eat guppies, but they're trained NOT to snack on your store-bought ones, no matter how much you choose to neglect them. The guppies they eat are classified as "Specialty Feed", so you'll most likely need to feed them manually until you can get somebody else to feed them for you. Prego will be able to handle the food needs for the carnivores that don't require any special food... although she can't pop out babies on command. 4.3) Star Catchers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: $750 (Game) / 2,500 - 50,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : Stars * Dropped from Star Guppies (Game) * Manually fed (Tank) Drops: Diamonds ($200, Game) / Blue Shells (5 Shells, Tank) Special Note: Available for purchase ONLY in Tank 2 Star Catchers are a special bottom dwelling fish that catch stars, as their name states. Once you have a couple of star guppies, after feeding your large guppies a couple of Star Potions (which cost $250 a piece). Just be careful NOT to collect too many stars or your star catchers will starve to death. In the virtual tank, you'll have to manually feed your Star Catchers as they all require specialty feed. 4.4) Guppy Crunchers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: $750 (Game) / 2,500 - 5,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : Small Guppies Drops: Beetles ($150, Game) / Beetles (7 Shells, Tank) Special Note: Available for purchase ONLY in Tank 3. Guppy Crunchers are another carnivorous fish that'll dwell on the bottom of your tank again. Unlike the Star Catchers, guppy crunchers will jump in an attempt to catch small guppies to feed upon. Just make sure you keep your tank stocked with small guppies or these guys will starve. The gold beetles that they "drop" (in reality, they float from the bottom of the tank) are worth enough to cover the cost of their food, but you'll learn not to take too many beetles or your wallet will eventually suffer. In the virtual tank, they won't eat your store-bought guppies but you'll have to manually feed them unless you have Prego to handle their needs... but just remember that Prego isn't an "on demand" feeder. 4.5) Beetle Munchers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: $2,000 (Game) / 2,500 - 50,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : Beetles, dropped by Guppy Crunchers (Game / Tank) * This EXCLUDES Cookie (Tank) Drops: Pearls ($500, Game) / Spiral Shell (10 Shells, Tank) Special Note: Available for purchase ONLY in Tank 3 Beetle Munchers are a strange, ghost-like fish that each the beetles that the the guppy crunchers drop. I know it may be a bit difficult to comprehend why to deal with a specialized food chain, but you'll get use to if (if you want to proceed through the game). You'll need a few guppy crunchers in your tank to help feed them. Since their pearls give you triple the value of the the beetles the eat on, you'll want to avoid collecting their food so you don't starve them to death. In the virtual tank, you'll either have to feed them manually OR buy a guppy cruncher to feed them for you. 4.6) Breeders ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: $200 (Game) / 2,500 - 25,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : Fish Food (Game / Tank) Drops: Small Guppies (Game) / ONE "Jr." Small Guppy (worth 2,500 Shells, Tank) Special Note: Available for purchase ONLY in Tank 4 & will replace guppies. Breeders, as their name suggests, are nothing more than living baby factories that will periodically give birth to a small guppy. Unlike Prego, breeders will require food & protection in exchange for the guppies they add to your tank. It's due to the breeders that you'll eventually run into overpopulation problems in Tank 4... assuming you have a decent number of them in your tank. In the virtual tank, breeders have only a limited appeal as they only give you ONE & ONLY ONE "Junior" guppy... but that junior guppy will eventually grow into a king guppy & have a higher resale value than their counterparts. Since they only eat Fish Food, Zorf should be able to handle their food needs. 4.7) Ultravores ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: $10,000 (Game) / 10,000 - 25,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : Carnivores Drops: Treasure Chests ($2,000, Game) / Bag of Shells (20 Shells, Tank) Special Note: Available for purchase ONLY in Tank 4. Ultravores are the biggest, baddest & probably the ugliest fish that you'll run across in the game. Ultravores are the highest in the food chain & thus their diet consists entirely of carnivores. The guppies are too small to be even considered a light snack! Ultravores drop the most valuable cash item in the game, which does cover the cost of their food & them some. Therefore, you'll likely get a couple to help you reach your goals relatively faster. In the virtual tank, they won't eat your store bought carnivores, so you'll most likely have to feed them by hand... or until you can find somebody to feed them for you. 4.8) Ball Fish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: 25,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : Specialty Food, based on ball... (Tank) * Whiffle Ball -- Ice Cream * Soccer Ball -- Fried Chicken * Beach Ball -- Pizza Drops: Whiffle Ball -- Silver Shell (1 Shell, Tank) * Soccer Ball -- Gold Shell (2 Shells, Tank) * Beach Ball -- Blue Shell (5 Shells, Tank) Special Note: Ball Fish ONLY AVAILABLE for the virtual tank The ball fish is a very special type of fish that you'll only see in the virtual tank. As the name states, it's a fish that looks like a ball. Unlike the regular fish, the ball fish just can't seem to touch the bottom of the tank. Therefore, if their special fish food reach the bottom before they can eat it, you'll have to drop another piece in a few seconds. 4.9) Cookie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: 50,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : "High Quality" Fish Food (Tank) Drops: Specialty Foods for all Fish in Tank (Tank) Special Note: Cookie is ONLY AVAILABLE for the virtual tank Cookie is a rare, but highly helpful fish that you'll want to have in your virtual tank. Cookie is a rare philanthropic fish that'll help feed your rare fish with the specialty food that they need. All he requires is that you feed him with the high quality fish food. Please be aware that you'll need to buy some other items for your virtual tank before Cookie will become available in the shop. 5) Aliens ------------ You can't really have a thrilling action game without some type of antagonist! These aliens like to treat your tank as a buffet & will occasionally pop into your tank with little notice (about 5-10 seconds advance notice). You will need to eliminate them as soon as possible in order to reduce (or negate) the damage they could do to your tank & your fish. With each fish they take out, it'll take you more time to reach your goal (as you'll have to replace the fish they eat or kill). Fortunately, each alien you kill will give you some restitution. In adventure mode, each alien will drop a diamond worth $200. In virtual tank mode, the aliens will only go after the non-store bought fish & will drop a spiral shell worth 10 shells. You will eventually find some special "trained" aliens that can live in your virtual tank as well. There'll be some, albeit limited, information about them when available. With all that said... let's meet your alien nemesis. 5.1) Sylvester ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: NONE (Normal) Costs: UNAVAILABLE -- Grown from Mini-Sylvester Eats : Ultravores Drops: Shack of Shells (20 Shells) If you seen the Aline series, you probably have a good grasp of their look since they bore the typical alien look. While you'll have to keep him from snacking on your fish, simple laser blasting should take care of him. Sylvester's Story ******************** Sylvester used to run a popular sushi bar in downtown San Francisco, but when he discovered a mysterious wormhole that led directly to the Insaniquarium, Sylvester sold the restaurant to pursue his lifelong dream: EATING ALL YOUR FISH! 5.2) Balrog ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: Fierce / None (Normal) Balrog has a similar look to Sylvester, but he's orangish & have a lion-like head. This is to make him look fiercer, but he isn't that hard... just simple laser blasting is all that's needed to kill him. Balrog's Story ***************** Many people want to know: How does Balrog manage to keep his hair so thick and luxurious? Balrog answers: First of all, to keep the shine in my hair, I try to avoid using heated styling tools. I also like to use a wide-tooth comb while in the shower so that I can distribute my conditioner EVENLY. Finally, when sleeping, I put my hair in a scrunchy to prevent breakage. 5.3) Gus ~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: G (for Glutton) Gus is a fat, naked, hungry alien with a practically insatiable appetite for food. If permitted, he would clean out your tank & still ask for more... like a virtual nightmare to anybody running an all-you-can-eat buffet. The only way to kill Gus is directly through his stomach. Just feed him as much fish food as you can throw at him (which doesn't cost you a thing while he's in your tank) until he explodes from overeating. Gus's Story ************** Many people wonder: What is Gus laughing about? Just what is so funny about killing innocent fishies? He's actually not laughing about fish. It turns out that Gus heard the following joke in 1984 and is still laughing about it: What did the daddy buffalo say to his kid before leaving the house? Bison! 5.4) Destructor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: D (for Destroyer) Destructor is a Mecha-Alien that's programmed to do one thing: DESTROY ALL FISH WITHIN YOUR TANK! While Destructor is stuck on the bottom of the tank & he's not programmed to EAT fish, he can fire 3 fish-seeking missiles. As long as you can quickly take out the missiles he fires, you should be OK while you kill him. Destructor's Story ******************** Destructor was created many years ago by a brilliant scientist to be a toy for his favorite nephew. The nephew, unfortunately, was a sadistic little boy who liked to torture his pet fish. This is where Destructor learned his destructive behavior. The scientist now readily admits, "Maybe it was a bad idea giving Destructor those missiles." 5.5) PsychoSquid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: P (for Psycho) PsychoSquid is truly a psychopath for two reasons... First, he's totally bipolar. You can only hurt him when he's in attack mode (when he's red) & going after you fish. Second, he gets healed from your laser blasts when you attack him when he's in rest mode (when he's blue) & currently not a threat to your fish. Speed, timing & containment are the keys to taking out PsychoSquid. You want to try to keep him away from your fish at all times, especially when he's resting as that's when he's the most dangerous as he could quickly munch on a few fish when he switches back to attack mode. ON the other hand, if there's multiple aliens in the tank, you might want to focus on the other alien while PsychoSquid is resting. PsychoSquid's Story ********************** PsychoSquid's nickname was given to him by his ex-girlfriend. He could not comprehend when their relationship was over. He kept calling her as if nothing had happened. He would wait outside her door and ask what she had been up to. This is when she started calling him PsychoSquid to her friends. 5.6) Ulysses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: U (for Ugly) Ulysses is a variation from Greek mythology creature. Ulysses is a rock (or a mud) cyclops that acts similarly to Destroy, but with one major difference. Ulysses fires 3 magical fish-seeking fireballs. HOWEVER, they get deflected when you hit them, so they can still kill some fish while they get hurdled towards the sides of the tank. As long as you can control the deflection of the fireballs, you should do okay again Ulysses. Ulysses's Story ****************** One big "How Come" with Ulysses is: How come Ulysses doesn't just fire already deflected missiles? Wouldn't this kill more fish and get the job done faster? The reason he can't do this is complicated, but it essentially boils down to a strict code of honor and fairness among cyclopes that precludes such unsportsmanlike behavior... and also, he's dumb. 5.7) Bilaterus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: II (ASCII for the Gemini symbol) Costs: 10,000 Shells (Tank, One Head) Eats : Small Guppies (Tank) Drops: Spiral Shells (10 Shells) It's a two-for-one sale with this twin of an alien (hence the Gemini symbol)! Bilaterus is a double-headed bone shake that can quickly decimate your tank if not quickly taken care of. Once you eliminate one head, the other head takes over & the spine between them can take out any fish between them. Speed is the only key to taking out Bilaterus as you have to quickly switch to the other head once you defeat the first on. In the virtual tank, in order to make Bilaterus harmless against your other fish in the tank, you can only get one head. Other than that, Bilaterus will act similarly to a carnivore... but drops better shells. Bilaterus's Story ******************** Hardcore Bilaterus fans often argue over which head is superior. Judy K. from Minnesota writes in: "Obviously the pointy head is the brains of the operation. The round head is just an over-rated Christmas ornament." Bob J. from Alabama counters: "No way. Roundy is the MAN! Pointy is just along for the ride." Whoa, easy there, you two. This is one controversy that won't be settled today! 5.8) Cyrax ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: None (Boss) Cyrax is the alien mastermind (& monster jerk) who's been trying to turn your aquarium tanks into an all-you-can-eat buffet by sending those aliens to your tanks. Like many masterminds, he doesn't doesn't want to get his hands dirty by attacking you directly. He just lets his own minions do his dirty work. All you can do is quickly blast him with your laser as fast as possible & pick off his minions as they appear. Since Cyrax is the final boss (in Tank 5), you must defend your pets INSTEAD of your fish. Cyrax's Story **************** After losing the legendary Battle of Tank 5, Cyrax moved on and eventually became host of his own late night variety show. Some people call it a cerebral highbrow interview program, while critics have deemed it a "lowest common denominator sleaze-fest". There is certainly no end of controversy to his show, and Cyrax wouldn't have it any other way. 5.9) Mini-Sylvester ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alien Type: None (Mini) Costs: 15,000 Shells (Tank) Eats : Carnivores (Tank) Drops: Spiral Shells (10 Shells) Mini-Sylvester are the "Mini Me" of Sylvester. Because of their size, they're pretty weak against your laser (taking about 2 laster blasts to kill them), but their issue is that they tend to show up in numbers & can gang up against you. You'll only see Mini-Sylvester in Tank 5 in Adventure mode because they're Cyrax's Minions. In the virtual tank, Mini-Sylvester acts similarly to Ultravores, but they don't pay out quiet as well. Mini-Sylvester's Story ************************* Mini-Sylvester was created by Cyrax to be a sort of a "Yes Man" or "Toady". Originally he sought to make a Mini-Cyrax, but this plan was disastrous as the Mini-Cyraxes conspired to do away with their creator. Cyrax found the Mini-Sylvesters to be much more malleable to his will... or at least that's what they have led him to believe... 6) Your Pets --------------- As you play through adventure mode, you'll earn various pets to help you out in the tanks in different ways. You'll obtain 24 different pets through the game (earning 20, buying the other 4). You'll originally be restricted to 3 pets for both game modes & virtual tank. However, you can later increase this to 4 pets in the game modes & 7 pets in the virtual tank. There are pros & cons with each pet, but how to select your team of pets depends on your play style & your willingness to experiment with different combinations. Please be aware that my usage suggestions are just that, MY SUGGESTIONS! Don't feel like you have to follow my suggestions in order to complete the game as it may not work with your play style & you may find a different combination that could help you more than what I've done. With that said... Let's see the pets, in order of how you'll obtain them. 6.1) Stinky the Snail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stinky the Snail is your first & would likely become a favorite for a while. Stinky helps you out by collect any money that falls to the bottom the tank that you may have overlooked for some reason. He can help you multitask by having you feed your fish while he rakes in the money. However, Stinky isn't the bravest as he'll hide inside his shell whenever an alien appears. Despite this, Stinky is a good pet to take with you, specially in the Virtual Tank for automation purposes. Pros: Collects money for you that drops to the bottom. Cons: Goes only towards the closest coin / shell to him. * Hides in his shell when aliens are present. Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Good to have Timed Mode : Good to have Challenge Mode: Good to have Virtual Tank : Must have for Automation Stinky's Story ***************** Stinky knew from an early age that he was different from the other snails. He had the fever, the money fever. He was all about collecting money. But what does Stinky need with all that money? Stinky answers, "It impresses the ladies." 6.2) Niko the Oyster ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Niko the Oyster is a passive pet, but he helps ensure that you have a source of money available by making pearls for you to collect periodically. HOWEVER, since Niko is cranking out the pearls relatively fast, his pearls aren't as high quality of other pearls & therefore are only worth about half their original value. Niko is consider a relatively weak pet because all he does is make pearls for you to pick up. Otherwise, he's practically worthless. Pros: Relatively steady source of money Cons: Niko's Pearl is worth only 50% of other pearls * Niko only stays open for a limited time. * Failure to collect his pearl results in forfeiting said pearl. Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Filler Timed Mode : Filler Challenge Mode: Filler, Practically Useless Virtual Tank : Practically Useless for Automation Niko's Story *************** One question that always comes up when talking about Niko is: Why doesn't Niko open his mouth more often? There is a reason for this. It is because Niko thinks that opening his mouth may allow demons to steal his soul. Therefore, he keeps mouth opening to a minimum. 6.3) Itchy the Swordfish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Itchy the Swordfish is one of your defensive pets. Itchy's eager to defend your fish against the aliens & will gladly take on any alien that invades. Although his attacks are pretty weak, you probably appreciate some assistance he can provide for you. In the virtual tank, he's only worth having if you have the alien attractor active in your tank. Otherwise, he's just wasting space in your tank. Pros: Attacks Aliens Cons: Weak Attacks Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Filler Timed Mode : Weak Choice Challenge Mode: Weak Choice Virtual Tank : Useless for Automation without Alien Attractor Itchy's Story **************** Itchy wasn't always the grizzled, alien-attacking warrior that he is today. In fact, he used to be a watercoloring, vegan pacifist... Until one day an alien invaded Itchy's tank. Itchy tried to reason with the alien, but it wouldn't listen. The alien ate Itchy's friends and this is when Itchy swore a blood oath to kill all aliens! 6.4) Prego the Momma Fish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prego the Momma Fish can be a godsend to your wallet & your time. Prego will help ensure that you tank remains filled least with a guppy that she periodically gives birth to (saving you $100 per birth). Unlike the breeders, Prego doesn't require any fish food nor protection, making her a good choice to take into the tank. In the virtual tank, Prego can help feed your carnivores by giving birth to their preferred type of food. Pros: Spawn Baby Guppies * Doesn't need food OR protection Cons: Overpopulation potential Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Good to have (except Tank 4) Timed Mode : Good to have Challenge Mode: Should have Virtual Tank : Must have for Automation w/ Carnivores Prego's Story **************** Everyone knows PREGO as the loving mother to a thousand guppies, but the question on everybody's mind is: Where did she get that exquisite scarf? PREGO answers, "Oh, this thing? Son 183,241 gave it to me... no wait... it was Son 183,240. I always get those two mixed up." 6.5) Zorf the Seahorse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zorf the Seahorse is another godsend of a pet. Zorf's philanthropic quest is to ensure that no guppy goes hungry. Whenever a guppy looks sick from hunger, he's there to toss out some fish food for them. In the virtual tank, he becomes a must have for automation purposes as he'll feed your guppies as needed. Pros: Feed your fish for free (limit 3 at one time) * His food doesn't count towards your drop limit Cons: He only gives out food when a guppy is sick from hunger * Fish must come to him for food * Your fish food can become better than his in the game * His services can be overwhelmed due to overpopulation Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Good to have Timed Mode : Good to have Challenge Mode: Good to have Virtual Tank : Must have for Automation w/ Guppies Zorf's Story *************** Some people wonder, Why doesn't Zorf ever upgrade to level 3 food? The reason is that Zorf thinks that most foods are too rich in fat and artificial preservatives. The level 2 food, on the other hand, is raised one hundred percent organically and has no artificial flavors or additives. 6.6) Clyde the Jellyfish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clyde the Jellyfish could be consider a reasonable replacement compared to Stinky. Clyde drifts throughout your tank & picks up the falling coins & shells along the way. He could be consider a replacement as he moves throughout the tank, instead of just the bottom & he's not afraid of the aliens. HOWEVER, he may not be able to collect as many coins / shells since he could be anywhere in the tank instead of the bottom. Pros: Picks up coins / shells * Not afraid of aliens Cons: Goes to the closest coin / shell Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Considerable Choice Timed Mode : Considerable Choice Challenge Mode: Considerable Choice Virtual Tank : Reasonable Choice for Automation Clyde's Story **************** Clyde, much like Stinky, likes collecting money. Unlike Stinky, though, Clyde doesn't collect money for just any lady. He is actually saving up to finally get his mother the operation that she needs. So just remember that every dollar left over at the end of a level might just go to Clyde's mother's operation fund! 6.7) Vert the Skeleton Fish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vert the Skeleton Fish is a pet from beyond the grave. This undead pet acts just like a large guppy, but without the hassles of feeding & protecting him. Like other passive pets, you may not have a need to ensure yourself a steady source of income in the tank. You might like him in your virtual tank for the free shells, but Vert's otherwise useless at this point in the game as other pets would likely serve you better. Pros: Drops coins / shells * Doesn't require food OR protection Cons: Isn't affected by Meryl's singing Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Filler Timed Mode : Filler Challenge Mode: Poor Choice Virtual Tank : OK for Automation (with Stinky or Clyde) Vert's Story *************** Some people are afraid to use Vert because they think that he is an undead product of dark occult forces and therefore may turn against them at any time. This is simply not true. Obviously, a bad skeleton would not give you gold coins. He would drop rat poison. 6.8) Rufus the Fiddler Crab ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rufus the Fiddler Crab is willing to lend you a claw (or two) towards defending your tank from the aliens. However, he's a bottom dweller, so you'll need to confine the aliens to the bottom of the tank to get any assistance from him. It's because of this limitation that really hampers his usefulness UNLESS the tank will have Destructor OR Ulysses, where he can really shine. Due to Rufus's defensive nature, he's pretty useless in the virtual tank unless you have the Alien Attractor in there as well. Pros: Attacks Aliens Cons: Cannot attack aliens away from the bottom of the tank Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Poor Choice Timed Mode : Poor Choice Challenge Mode: Poor Choice Virtual Tank : Useless without Alien Attractor Rufus's Story **************** Rufus started his career as a dance instructor, teaching people how to do his patented pop and lock arm routine. When his dance studio burned down in a freak accident, Rufus became a mercenary for hire, using his dance skills to amplify his already potent natural fighting ability. 6.9) Meryl the Mermaid ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meryl the Mermaid is another passive pet with a heart of gold. Her singing has a very calming effect on your fish, causing them to drop a lot more coins & shells than usual. While it cause a minor case of repetitive stress disorder (or carpal tunnel) in a fish-heavy tank, she can really help you fill up your wallet in order to complete the tank. In the virtual tank, Meryl's fairly handy if you want to pick up a lot of shells to pad your wallet (for a large purchase or something). Otherwise, her talents are likely to be lost during automation. Pros: Fish drop three coins per song (over one normally) Cons: Potential Coin Overloads (causing problems picking up everything) Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: OK to have Timed Mode : Good to have Challenge Mode: Good to have Virtual Tank : Considerable Choice Meryl's Story **************** Meryl delights in thrilling audiences around the world with her virtuoso singing talent. She has never been able to measure up in the eyes of the carnivores or ultravores, though. These fish view her simply as another unoriginal corporate-sponsored pop star. To her critics, Meryl would like to point out that she has never sold out by making a music video. 6.10) Wadsworth the Whale ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wadsworth the Whale is another defensive pet that has a different way of keeping your tank safe from the alien invaders. When an alien attacks your tank, Wadsworth will carefully suck up all your small & medium guppies inside his mouth to keep them safe. Once the aliens are defeated, he returns them to the tank. While is intentions are good, his usefulness may be limited once you get him. In the virtual tank, he's practically useless as the only fish that he could protect would be the feeder fish from the aliens while the Alien Attractor is active. Since feeder fish don't cost you a thing, they're really not worth protecting. Pros: Protects small & medium guppies during alien attacks * Ensures that your tank cannot be exterminated by aliens Cons: Doesn't protect large fish or breeders Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: OK to have (excluding Tank 4) Timed Mode : Considerable Choice (excluding Tank 4) Challenge Mode: Good to have (excluding Tank 4) Virtual Tank : Useless Wadsworth's Story ******************** Wadsworth has made quite a comeback since his accident several years back. Hopelessly addicted to plankton and abandoned by all his friends, Wadsworth lost all muscle control one day and accidentally ate all of the fish in his mouth. Since finishing rehab four years ago, Wadsworth has re-entrenched himself in Insaniquarium players' hearts. 6.11) Seymour the Sea Turtle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seymour the Sea Turtle is a passive pet that uses his age & abilities to your advantage by slowing down the coins & shells your fish drop, making them easier to collect. Seymour may be a considerable choice if you have trouble collecting the coins & shells before they reach the bottom, but he's a pretty weak choice compared to other pets you may have. He's helpful in the virtual tank with Stinky or Clyde by slowing down the shells, making it easier for them to collect them. Pros: Slows down falling coins Cons: Does not assist your fish Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Considerable Choice Timed Mode : Considerable Choice Challenge Mode: Poor Choice Virtual Tank : Good to Have for Automation Seymour's Story ****************** After beating the hare a few years ago, Seymour retired and returned to his home in the aquarium. Sadly, nothing would ever top his winning that race. Seymour does not live in the present as we know it. Look into his eyes and you can see that his mind is stuck in a hazy past... reliving his last glorious moment. 6.12) Shrapnel the MechaFish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shrapnel the MechaFish is one of those weird pets that is most likely misunderstood. Similar to Vert, Shrapnel doesn't require any food or protection from aliens. Occasionally, he'll drop a bomb that is worth some money. HOWEVER, the bomb can be hazardous to your tank as it can kill any fish that goes after it. While I haven't found any good combinations with Shrapnel, those who are more adventurous may find him a bit more useful than me. Pros: Drops money-making bombs ($150 / 5 Shells) Cons: Bombs can kill your fish Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Dangerous to Fish Timed Mode : Dangerous to Fish Challenge Mode: Hazardous to Your Success Virtual Tank : Poor Choice Shrapnel's Story ******************* When talking about Shrapnel, the main question is usually: What are the market forces of supply and demand that results in Shrapnel's bombs being worth $150? Alan Fishspan, chairman of the Federal Shell Reserve answers: This is a response to the current low rate on 30 year mortgages, combined with the strong performance of the Euro against the dollar. 6.13) Gumbo the Angler ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gumbo the Angler is another defensive pet that helps to "light" the way towards safety for your guppies when the aliens invade your tank. Gumbo tries to keep your guppies away from the aliens as possible, but he tends to get muddled when you have multiple aliens. Gumbo's only flaw here is that you're practically placing all your guppies in one place & an unchecked alien could eat all your fish in one go. Like Wadsworth, Gumbo's abilities are useless in the virtual tank as he can only protect your feeder fish... which aren't really worth saving. Pros: Attracts all guppies (including breeders) to him * Tries to stay as far away from the aliens as possible Cons: Doesn't protect other fish * Can get confused with multiple aliens * Can backfire with unchecked aliens Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Good to Have Timed Mode : OK to Have Challenge Mode: Good to Have Virtual Tank : Useless Gumbo's Story **************** Many critics of Gumbo say that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing... that he simply leads all of your guppies to one spot to make it easier for his alien friends to kill them all. Gumbo answers his critics by pointing out that the aliens have shown him no mercy in Tank 5. "I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of the Alien party!" says Gumbo. 6.14) Blip the Dolphin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blip the Dolphin really loves to prove that he's the second smartest creature on earth (as the debate between Humans & Mice as the smartest creature goes on). He uses his abilities to point out which fish are hungry as well as provide intelligence on the incoming alien invaders by showing you their point of entry as well as their health. In the virtual tank, he's pretty useless as this information falls on deaf ears as you're more dependant on pets to help automate your tank. Pros: Points out Hungry Fish (BEFORE they become sick) * Points out Alien Entry points * Shows Alien's Health * Opens up all items in the Tank Bar Cons: Pacifist (Doesn't fight) * Premature inflation for Challenge Mode Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: OK to Have Timed Mode : Considerable Choice Challenge Mode: Poor Choice Virtual Tank : Useless Blip's Story *************** Blip wrestled for years with his psychic abilities. He was shunned as a child by the other fish who hated him for being able to tell when they were hungry. Then one day, Blip got a bad feeling about a certain area of the tank. He didn't tell anyone, though, because everyone was mean to him. After all the other fish were killed, Blip felt guilty and vowed to only use his powers for good. 6.15) Rhubarb the Hermit Crab ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rhubarb the Hermit Crab likes to be the King of the Sands & wants to be left alone at the bottom of the tank as much as possible. Whenever a fish gets close to the bottom of the tank, he tosses them up. The upside to this is that it allows you, Stinky & Clyde to collect the coins / shells that would otherwise be lost because of the fish camping on the bottom. While Rhubarb may be a considerable choice, there's usually other pets that would likely help you out more than Rhubarb... but those who are more willing to experiment would likely find a useful combination with him. Pros: Repels fish from the bottom Cons: Pacifist (Doesn't Fight) * Forces Guppy Crunchers to jump for fish * Causes Guppies to be ejected from Wadsworth Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Poor Choice Timed Mode : OK to Have Challenge Mode: Poor Choice Virtual Tank : Considerable Choice for Automation Rhubarb's Story ****************** Rhubarb has often been accused of being the "worst pet ever". Rhubarb doesn't really care what his detractors think, though. He's not aiming to be a crowd pleaser. He's not trying to prove anything to anyone. He just wishes those darn fish would stay off the ground! 6.16) Nimbus the Manta Ray ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nimbus the Manta Ray is one interesting pet that could be useful with the right combination. Nimbus hates to waste anything & he tries his best to ensure that nothing reaches the bottom & gets wasted by bouncing fish food, coins & shells that get close to the bottom. As stated, Nimbus can be useful if use properly, but he can become an annoyance as well. In the virtual tank, Nimbus can be useful in conjunction with Clyde, but would be detrimental with Stinky. Pros: Bounces coins & food * He hunts for items to bounce Cons* Potentially hurts your food limits (by recycling food) * Tries to go for the closest & lowest item * DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH STINKY! Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: OK to have (w/ Clyde) Timed Mode : Considerable Choice Challenge Mode: Poor Choice Virtual Tank : Considerable Choice for Automation, depending on others... Nimbus's Story ***************** Some people want to know: What's Nimbus' record for bouncing a coin up and down? Nimbus answers: "One thousand, seven hundred and twenty-four times." Way to go, Nimbus! 6.17) Amp the Electric Eel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amp the Electric Eel takes the "Homer Simpson" approach to fish(ing)... if you have ever seen The Simpson's Movie. Amp likes to charge himself up & discharge around guppies, frying them into nice diamonds for you. Due to Amp's destructive nature, I can't really suggest placing him in your tank because when he discharges, he could practically take out your entire tank in the process. However, if you're more adventurous than me... you could give him a try & possibly make him useful in some strange combo. I will note that in order to prevent total tank erradication, one guppy always seems to make it out alive. Pros: Makes Diamonds Cons: Kills Guppies Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Hazardous to your Tank Timed Mode : Dangerous to your Fish Challenge Mode: Hazardous to your Tank Virtual Tank : Poor Choice Amp's Story ************** Rumors have been circulating for years now that some companies have developed a way to make Amp turn water into diamonds. Conspiracy theorists believe that it is simply the interests of the greedy diamond lobby that have prevented this research from becoming available to the general public. Amp is closed mouthed on the subject. 6.18) Gash the Shark ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gash the Shark is the practical replacement of Itchy. Gash loves to take a bite out of aliens. However, in order to keep in practice, he'll occasionally snack on a guppy. This may be a considerable trade off as his attacks are stronger. In the virtual tank, he's practically useless if you don't have the alien attractor in the tank as all he'll do is take a bite out of your feeder fish. Pros: Fiercely Attacks Aliens Cons: Eats Fish Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Considerable Choice Timed Mode : Poor Choice Challenge Mode: Considerable Choice Virtual Tank : Useless without Alien Attractor Gash's Story *************** Gash used to be one of Itchy the Swordfish's best friends until Itchy left him for dead in a violent alien attack. Now, years later, Gash roams the tank trying to settle the score with the aliens and perhaps one day... with Itchy as well! 6.19) Angie the Angelfish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Angie the Angelfish is truly an angel of a pet. She has the miraculous power to revive any fish that dies in your tank. While there are some limits to her powers, as she can't bring back any fish that gets eaten or reaches the bottom of the tank, but any fish that dies from neglect or any other destructive nature can be revived. In Tank 4, her services may be taxed due to overpopulation... but she does try her best. In the virtual tank, her services aren't required as the only fish she could revive would be the feeder fish... which aren't worth reviving as you can always get more of them. Pros: Revives recently dead fish * Active hunts for dead fish Cons: Cannot revive eaten fish or fish that reach the bottom of the tank * Can be overwhelmed due to overpopulation Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Good to have Timed Mode : OK to have Challenge Mode: Good to have Virtual Tank : Useless Angie's Story **************** To most fans, Angie can do no wrong. But to a few there will always be the question: Why did she save this fish but not that one? How does she make her fateful decision? Angie responds that she tries to save all fish but for some, it was simply their time to go. "After all, if the entire tank were saved then the frame rate would go down." 6.20) Presto the Tadpole ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Presto the Tadpole is the absolute last pet you receive in adventure mode for good reason. Presto can turn into ANY PET that you have collected on demand! He can even duplicate a pet that you currently have in your tank. Because of his powers of being a flexible "wild card", he's easily a MUST HAVE pet for every occasion you can think of! Just right-click on Presto to open up the pet selection menu, then just select the preferred pet. Pros: He can turn into ANY PET you want * You can change his form at any time * Allows you to "Double up" on a pet Cons: Takes time to recharge his magic between transformations * Cannot hold another's form when hit by Walter * Last Pet to obtain in Adventure Mode Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: MUST HAVE Timed Mode : MUST HAVE Challenge Mode: MUST HAVE Virtual Tank : MUST HAVE Presto's Story ***************** Presto is not actually a real pet. He was made up for the game. 6.21) Brinkley the Scuba Diving Elephant (Bonus 1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: 20,000 Shells Brinkley the Scuba Diving Elephant is the first Bonus Pet that you'll buy. He can help you out by dropping Stars & other items to assist some of your rarer fish. However, he'll eat your fish food while he hangs out in your tank. Brinkley's abilities are pretty limited, but somebody who's adventurous may find a good use for him. Pros: Drops Stars & Blue Shells Cons: Eats Fish Food Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Poor Choice Timed Mode : Filler Challenge Mode: Poor Choice Virtual Tank : OK for Automation Brinkley's Story ******************* Brinkley was a performing elephant for many years before escaping his cruel circus masters. Unfortunately, Brinkley could not escape his own voracious appetite, an appetite for... food! 6.22) Nostradamus the Nosefish (Bonus 2) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: 25,000 Shells Nostradamus the Nosefish is actually the reincarnation of a dead US president. Nostradamus is your first line of defense against the aliens as he can use his "Sneeze of Power" to delay their invasion, giving you a bit more time to prepare for them. However, Nostradamus cannot delay the alien invasions indefinitely. One strange thing with Nostradamus is that he has a runny nose & will drop a booger occasionally. You can pick these up for a little pocket money, but they can be harmful to your tank as a hungry guppy could eat them & turn them into a Mini-Nostradamus... or make them hungrier in the virtual tank. In the virtual tank, Nostradamus is a practically useless without the alien attractor & still a poor choice with alien attractor as there's really no reason to delay the aliens in the virtual tank as there's really nothing to lose there. Pros: Delays alien attacks * Drops boogers, which can be collected for money ($1 / 1 S) Cons: Boogers can turn guppies into Nostradamus clones or make them hungrier * Does not permanently prevent attacks Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: OK to Have Timed Mode : Harmful to Fish Challenge Mode: Good to Have Virtual Tank : Poor Choice Nostradamus's Story ********************** Asked by skeptics whether he really is the nose of President Rutherford B. Hayes, Nostradamus replies: "Yes and no. I was President Hayes' second nose. His first nose was blown off in the Civil War." 6.23) Stanley the Small Sea Serpent (Bonus 3) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: 30,000 Shells Stanley the Small Sea Serpent is playful defensive pet. Stanley likes to play with balls, specially along side the head of invading aliens. Whenever an alien appears in your tank, he just whips out a ball (from where, is left to your imagination) & sends it flying towards the alien. Stanley's balls will even go after alien projectiles as well. For some strange reason, Stanley is afraid of badgers, aprons... & especially of apron-wearing badgers... ...DON'T ASK... In the game modes, he's a considerable choice if you need help against aliens. In the virtual tank, he's pretty useless unless you have the alien attractor in there. Pros: Attacks aliens w/ homing balls Cons: Indirect attacker, going after missiles first BEFORE the alien Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Considerable Choice Timed Mode : Considerable Choice Challenge Mode: Considerable Choice Virtual Tank : Useless without Alien Attractor Stanley's Story ****************** Stanley's seeming unlimited supply of balls are the scourge of alien missile shooters everywhere. Some players wonder why he bothers throwing balls directly at the aliens, though. Stanley answers: "I like balls." 6.24) Walter the Penguin (Bonus 4) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Costs: 35,000 Shells Walter the Penguin is probably the most interesting & fun pet that you'll ever purchase in the game. Concealed inside Walter is a boxing glove. When clicked, he'll unleashed it & punch any fish within range, knocking extra coins or shells from them. Just so you're aware, all the Shells used to purchase Walter will be donated to the Falafel Foundation... like you would really care about that (considering Falafels are a baked good). In the game, if you like to squeeze out extra money from your fish... be my guest. However, I wouldn't suggest using Walter in the virtual tank as his powers have to be manually activated, making hims useless for automation. Pros: Allows you to punch any fish to drop more money Cons: Doesn't work with most pets * Forces Presto to revert to his original form Usage Suggestions ******************** Adventure Mode: Considerable Choice Timed Mode : Considerable Choice Challenge Mode: Considerable Choice Virtual Tank : Useless for Automation Walter's Story ***************** WALTER masks his tremendous insecurities with sheer bravado and scrappiness. On the outside, this happy-go-lucky penguin seems to have not a care in the world. On the inside, he has a great big boxing glove which he uses to punch people. 7) Pet Combos ---------------- As you collect pets through the game, you'll find that some combinations of pets that just work well together. Here's a few that you may find useful or at least interesting to try out. Combos listed here will be noted as "Basic", "Enhanced" & "Complete", depending on the number of pets required to fill the combo. Some combinations will include side-bars, which are optional swaps to the combo to fit a particular need. * Basic Combos will contain 3 or less pets, so they can be used in all modes. * Enhanced Combos will contain around 4 pets, so you can use them in all modes. * Combos with 5 or more can only be used in the virtual tank. * Complete Combos will contain 7 or more pets, but these are limited to the virtual tank ONLY. 7.1) Tank Automation Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basic Level: 1) Stinky 2) Zorf 3) Prego Enhanced Level: 4) Seymour 5) Rhubarb 6) Clyde Complete Level: 7) Stanley 8) Cookie* Side-bars: 1) Stinky <-> Clyde + Nimbus 2) Seymour <-> Nimbus 3) Seymour -> Stanley <-> Itchy <-> Gash 4) Stanley <-> Itchy <-> Gash SPECIAL NOTE: "Cookie" is actually a fish in the Virtual tank & therefore does NOT COUNT as a pet & therefore can allow you to exceed the normal limit. The Tank Automation Team is one of the most fundamental combos that you can make in the game. It allows you to cover all the needs of your tank & supplement your duties. At the basic level, everything except tank defense is covered. However, at the Enhanced Level, you can pick up a defender (instead of Seymour, see side-bar) to fill out everything. Once you get Cookie, your virtual tank is fully automated that you can just let it run as a screen saver without leaving any fish hungry. I must note NOT to place Stinky & Nimbus together in the tank. Nimbus will constantly be preventing Stinky from picking up stuff for you because he'll bounce it back to the top of the tank. Just replace Stinky with Clyde if you choose to use Nimbus as they work pretty well together. 7.2) Life & Death ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basic Level: 1) Amp 2) Angie Enhanced Level: 3) Walter The Life & Death Combo isn't for the feint of heart. With this combo, Amp will eventually kill your fish (dropping diamonds in the process) & Angie tries to revive as many of them as possible. In the Enhanced level, Walter serves as a catalyst by punching Amp. This combo is a quick way to crank out some extra cash with little guilt. 7.3) Protective Custody ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basic Level: 1) Wadsworth 2) Gumbo Enhanced Level: 3) Angie The Protective Custody Combo is mostly geared for those who want to protect their fish from total eradication with an insurance policy of your own! Wadsworth protects your younger guppies while Gumbo tries his best to protect your older & larger guppies (the ones that Wadsworth won't take). In the Enhanced level, Angie will be there to revive any fish that were killed (but NOT eaten) during an attack. 7.4) The Presto Shuffle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basic Level: * Presto Presto can be a combo all by itself, you just have to juggle the task you give him to help you out. Here's the rough list of pets you should do, in order for the tank(s). 1) Vert / Shrapnel -- Get free money while your fish grow 2) Meryl -- Crank out more money from your fish 3) Itchy / Gash / Stanley -- For Defense, as needed 8) Adventure Walkthrough --------------------------- This is the section of the game where you'll most likely spend most of your time working on the first time around since it's the key to unlocking the pets & the other game modes. It may take more trial & error to get through the tanks, but this section will give you some assistance in getting through with less failures... although it may not be the fastest way to get through the tanks. Please be aware that this is for the FIRST WALKTHROUGH of Adventure Mode as you most likely won't need assistance for BONUS Adventure Mode. 8.1) Tank 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once upon a time... you got bored & decided to start playing this game, so we being our adventure like so many others... at the beginning. Tank 1 is a bit newbie friendly as the game will go fairly easy on you. You'll mostly deal with guppies, although you'll deal with a few carnivores, & some of the weaker aliens in the game. It'll try to help you out by give pausing the game with some pop-up notes about new things to come. 8.1.1) Tank 1-1 ****************** Suggested Pets: NONE -- You don't have any yet. Here we go! Tank 1-1 is the easiest tank in the game as the only person that can make you fail this tank is yourself (& your destructive OR neglectful nature). You have 2 guppies & $200 to start amassing your fortune. Just periodically feed your fish (about every 5-10 seconds OR when they start looking sick with hunger) & wait for one to grow. Once one of your guppies grow to medium size, your money-making process starts as they'll start dropping silver coins (worth $15 /ea). On the shop bar, you'll be able to purchase extra guppies for $100 / ea. for whatever reason you have (either to replace any dead guppies or to increase your profit potential). For gameplay reasons, the game won't leave you alone until you buy at least one. After one of your guppies grow to large size, they'll start dropping gold coins (worth $35 / ea.) & the egg pieces will become available on the shop bar for the low price of $150 / ea. ($450 total). You'll finish the tank once you buy all 3 egg pieces. Pet Obtained: Stinky the Snail ******************************** GAME LANDMARK! ******************************** * * * ~~~ PETS UNLOCKED! ~~~ * * * * You just earned your first pet! While he may not seem very useful at the * * moment, he's free & is a token of the first step you made in through the * * game. You'll now have pets in available for all game modes. * * * ******************************************************************************** 8.1.2) Tank 1-2 ****************** Suggested Pets: Stinky (Auto-selected) Time to step out of the tiny fishbowl into a larger tank (figuratively, since the tank can never exceed your screen). A few new things to deal with, but it's nothing that most people can't handle (like that commonly use double-negative). You'll now have to deal with alien invaders that think your fish tank is an all-you-can-eat buffet. When the first alien is on it's way, you'll get a big pop-up warning about it (which will temporarily pause the game), the warning siren & a warning message in red text at the bottom of the screen. Subsequent alien invasions will only give you the warning siren & the warning message. Once the aliens enter your tank, you whip out your laser blaster to take them out. Just click on the alien to attack them with your blaster. Don't worry about accidentally hitting your fish with your blaster, it won't affect them... BUT you do need to keep the alien away from your fish as much as possible. The key to containing the alien is by shooting in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION you want them to go as they'll try to avoid future laser blasts this way. So if you want the alien to go towards the right, you shoot them on their left side & so on. It may take a couple of tries to get it down, but you'll get the hang of it. Since you only have 2 guppies in your tank for your first alien invasion, it should be too much of a problem to keep him away from your fish. Once the alien is destroyed, it'll drop a diamond (worth $200) for you to pick up as a reward for your efforts. Once you have a medium guppy, you'll be introduced to fish food upgrades. Higher Quality Food ($200 per level, Lv 3 max) is more nourishing & filling, so you'll get larger & happier guppies with less food. Quantity Upgrades ($300 per multiple, 9x max) will allow you to drop more fish food into the tank at one time & will help you maintain a larger tank of fish. Once you buy at least the 2x upgrade, you'll get the auto-feeder ability, which will allow you to automatically drop fish food (up to your limit) just by hold down the left mouse button. Please be aware that upgrades only apply to the tank you purchased them in. You'll go back to 1 x Lv 1 Fish Food at the next tank. Once you buy Lv 2 Fish Food, you'll open up the egg pieces in the shop bar. This time, the egg pieces will cost you $500 / ea. ($1,500 total) to finish the tank. Pet Obtained: Niko the Oyster 8.1.3) Tank 1-3 ****************** Suggested Pets: Stinky, Niko (Auto-selected) Taking another step out of the fishbowl, you'll now have a new variety of fish & a new item in the shop bar. Like previous tanks, you'll have to work your guppies up to size to start openning up items in the shop bar... Keypoints are: 1) Grow a Guppy to Medium Size -- Unlocks Food Upgrades 2) Grow a Guppy to Large Size -- Unlocks Carnivores 3) Buy a Carnivore -- Unlocks Blaster Upgrades & Egg Pieces. Carnivores ($1,000 / ea.) are the new type of fish to have in your tank. Unlike your guppies, carnivores eat SMALL guppies instead of fish food. While keeping an extra $100 in your wallet to feed your carnivore may be a pain, carnivores drop diamonds (worth $200 / ea.), which helps to increase your cash flow by netting $100 per drop instead of $10 - $30 with guppies. Once you buy a Carnivore, you can buy blaster upgrades for $1,000 / ea. Each upgrade will make your blaster stronger & therefore will require less clicks to kill the aliens. If you max out your blaster to Lv 10 (aka MAX LEVEL), you'll enable the auto-fire function... which works the same way as the auto-feed. Just like Fish Food Upgrades, Blaster Upgrades are only good for the tank you buy them in. Since you're only facing one alien at a time, you shouldn't invest too much in blaster upgrades. Going to Lv 2 or 3 should be enough for now. Egg pieces this tank will cost you $2,000 / ea. OR a total of $6,000 to finish the tank (buying all 3 pieces). Pet Obtained: Itchy the Swordfish 8.1.4) Tank 1-4 ****************** Suggested Pets: Stinky, Niko & Itchy (Auto-selected) You should have the basics of the game down now that the game won't hold your hand through it. The keypoints through the tank are: 1) Grow a Guppy to Medium -- Unlocks Fish Food Upgrades 2) Grow a Guppy to Large -- Unlocks Carnivore 3) Buy a Carnivore -- Unlocks Blaster Upgrades & Egg Pieces You'll most likely will need to buy some extra guppies before you start buying carnivores to get your cashflow going. Since you now have Itchy to assist you in alien invasions, you can get by with just a Lv 3 Blaster to help you save some money. Egg pieces this tank will cost $3,000 / ea. or a total of $9,000 to finish the tank (buying all 3 pieces). Pet Obtained: Prego the Momma Fish ******************************** GAME LANDMARK! ******************************** * * * ~~~ PETS SELECTION UNLOCKED! ~~~ * * * * You have now obtained 4 pets! Your collection has grown enough that you now * * have to make the choice on which pets you'll want to take into the take from * * now on. I know it's a bit more responsibility, but you're ready to make the * * call on which pets will likely help you in the next tank. * * * ******************************************************************************** 8.1.5) Tank 1-5 ****************** Suggested Pets: Stinky, Itchy & Prego It's FINAL EXAMS time for the beginner tanks as you now have to start making a few decisions for yourself... namely which pets to take into the tank. While the suggested pets would help you the most, you could swap Itchy for Niko if you feel up for fighting the aliens on your own... but you may want to buy a few more Blaster Upgrades (no more than Lv 4 or 5). The keypoints through the tank are: 1) Grow a Guppy to Medium -- Unlocks Fish Food Upgrades 2) Grow a Guppy to Large -- Unlocks Carnivore 3) Buy a Carnivore -- Unlocks Blaster Upgrades & Egg Pieces Since you NOW have Prego, you can use her to help keep your carnivores fed as she'll periodically give birth to a new baby guppy. However, you may want to keep buying guppies if you want more than one carnivore (Prego isn't a baby ATM, crapping out multiple babies on demand). Egg pieces this tank will cost $5,000 / ea. or a total of $15,000 to finish the tank (buying all 3 pieces). Pet Obtained: Zorf the Seahorse ******************************** GAME LANDMARK! ******************************** * * * ~~~ TIMED MODE UNLOCKED! ~~~ * * TANK 1 AVAILABLE * * * * Congradulations on completing Tank 1! You now have a Timed Mode available * * to help give you a quick fix of Insaniquarium gameplay & pick up some extra * * shells for your Virtual Tank. * * * * ~~~ GIFT CHEAT UNLOCKED! ~~~ * * * * With the completion of Tank 1, you're now showing enough maturity with the * * game that you may now give shells to other players (on this computer)... if * * you want. You may not want to give shells right now, but now you have the * * option when you're ready to. * ******************************************************************************** <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< BREAK TIME! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> You've just completed your first time! Now it's time for relax a little bit with the Shell Drop bonus game! The Shell Drop game is pretty simple game as you have about a minute to collect as many shells as you click on. You get a streak bonus (in form of a multiplier) if you collect the same type of shell in a row (up to about 5x the shell's value). The shells stop falling when time runs out & ends when there's no more shells on the screen. Whatever you get, you keep. This will be the first time you'll have a chance to make a bonus purchase. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< -- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 8.1) Tank 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now that you've gotten the hang <<< ---------------------------- AUTHOR'S NOTE ---------------------------- >>> Research for this section of the guide is currently incomplete at the time this guide was released to the publishers. This section will likely be updated in a future version as soon as enough information is obtained to provide you with a reasonable walkthrough here. If you have any suggestions that you are willing to share, please contact the author (See Section A) & your information may be included here with your name in the acknowledgements! In the meantime, we apologize for the inconvience... <<< ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> 8.5) Tank 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You're nearly done with Adventure Mode, but it wouldn't be complete without a final boss stage. You're now at the lair of Cyrax, you (& your pets) go up against him & his aliens. There's no fish you need to raise in this tank... HOWEVER, you'll need to protect all your pets (which will be between 18 & 22, pending on the number of bonus pets you have obtained) from Cyrax & his alien cronies. All you have to do is go wild on blasting Cyrax & any aliens that come to help him. Just be aware that you'll need to keep at least one pet alive to complete the tank. Once you defeat Cyrax, the full egg will appear in the shop bar. Just click on it to finish the game. IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THE MENU BUTTON AFTER YOU DEFEAT CYRAX OR YOU WILL TRIGGER THE TANK 6 BUG (SEE SECTION 15.1) Pet Obtained: Presto ******************************** GAME LANDMARK! ******************************** * * * ~ BONUS ADVENTURE MODE UNLOCKED! ~ * * * * Congratulations on completing the game! You have braved the hazards of all * * the tanks, the aliens & potential repetitive stress disorder (or carpal * * tunnel) to come out on top! For this, you can play adventure mode all over * * again, but now you'll get to play the Shell Drop bonus game after completing * * each sub-tank. * * * * Additionally, you are awarded 5,000 Shells on top of this. * * * * ~ CHALLENGE MODE UNLOCKED! ~ * * * * Feel like Adventure Mode wasn't hard enough for you? You can now face the * * true horror of an insanely challenging gameplay mode. With the completion * * Adventure Mode, you are now worthy enough to undertake this mode... if you * * really feel up for this challenge... JUST BE WARNED THAT IT IS NOT FOR THE * * FEINT OF HEART!!! * * * ******************************************************************************** As you may have wondered, "Where's Angie?" She decided to sit this tank out so that she can use her talents & revive all the pets that died in Tank 5. Now, just sit back & enjoy the credits of the game! 9) Time Trial Walkthrough ---------------------------- If you don't feel like playing through adventure mode for some reason (including limited play time), Time Trial mode should fit your Insaniquarium needs in 10-minute bites. HOWEVER, you'll need to complete at least Tank 1 to unlock this mode. As you complete Adventure Mode, the other tanks will open up for Time Trial mode as well. The main objective in Time Trial Mode is rake in as much money as you can within the time limit. You'll start with the tank's basics (either 2 small guppies OR a breeder) & any pets you bring with you. Once you get a medium-sized guppy, the entire shop bar will open up for you. This will allow you to buy the other fish for the tank, fish food upgrades, blaster upgrades & RANDOM PETS (instead of egg fragments). If you choose to buy them, the game will give you one new pet from your collection, selected randomly, to assist you for the duration of the tank. So your selection will be limited until you complete Adventure Mode & buy all the bonus pets. On the upside, this is one way to exceed the normal pet limit for the tank. Please be aware that price for each new pet will be doubled (under the formula Price = $100 * 2 ^ n, where n = the number of purchases). For those who don't understand algebra, or just suck at it, here's your comprehensive reference table for your convience. +-------------+--------------+--------------------------------+ | Pets Bought | Price | Notes | +-------------+--------------+--------------------------------+ | 00 | $ 100 | | | 01 | $ 200 | | | 02 | $ 400 | | | 03 | $ 800 | Suggested Limit for Tank 1 | | 04 | $ 1,600 | | | 05 | $ 3,200 | Suggested Limit for Tank 2 & 3 | | 06 | $ 6,400 | | | 07 | $ 12,800 | Suggested Limit for Tank 4 | | 08 | $ 25,600 | | | 09 | $ 51,200 | Logical Maximum for ANY TANK! | | 10 | $ 102,400 | | | 11 | $ 204,800 | | | 12 | $ 409,600 | | | 13 | $ 819,200 | | | 14 | $ 1,638,400 | | | 15 | $ 3,276,800 | | | 16 | $ 6,553,600 | | | 17* | $ 13,107,200 | Price EXCEEDS the game limits! | | 18* | $ 26,214,400 | Price EXCEEDS the game limits! | | 19* | $ 52,428,800 | Price EXCEEDS the game limits! | | 20* | $104,857,600 | Price EXCEEDS the game limits! | | 21* | $209,715,200 | Price EXCEEDS the game limits! | +-------------+--------------+--------------------------------+ | * This is IMPOSSIBLE to obtain as the game only keeps track | | of funds up to $9,999,999. These are listed ONLY for | | theoretical mathematical reference within the pet limits | | of the game. | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ The table is taken to the extreme logical maximum for the game as you get to bring at least 3 pets into the tank for free. If I really need to state this, but for those who can't manage to think for themselves... I'll state the obvious for you: 1) Take the pets that you can't live without for the tank. 2) Manage your cash wisely! Weight the cost of the fish / item with their benefits before you consider buying them. 3) Try to do with less, if possible -- the less you spend, the more money you'll have at the finish line! 4) Don't be afraid to experiment -- Some riskier pet combinations may work better than the safe bets. For those who are still lack the mental capabilities (either by age or "life status"), here's the walkthrough for you. Pet suggestions will be listed based on he tanks completed. Please be aware that the Average Earnings note is roughly the amount that you could expect to earn for the tank, but the Earnings Range will give you a better idea on how much you COULD get. 9.1) Tank 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Time Limit: 5 minutes Tank 1 is the easiest to play, HOWEVER, the time limit is halved to balance the gameplay. You'll only see the basic aliens (Sylvester & Balrog) invading your tank, so you'll likely get by with weaker blasters. You can also save some money by stopping only at 5 units of fish food at one time instead of maxing it out. Suggestions: *************** Fish Food : Lv 3 x 5 Blaster : Lv 2 or 3 Extra Pets: 4 or less Starting Pets: ***************** Tank 1 : Stinky, Prego & Zorf Tank 2 : Stinky / Clyde, Prego, Zorf & Meryl Tank 3 : Stinky / Clyde, Prego, Seymour & Meryl Tank 4/5: Stinky / Clyde, Seymour, Meryl & Presto Average Earnings: ~$4,000 (~200 Shells) Earnings Range : ~$1,000 - ~$7,000 9.2) Tank 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Time Limit: 10 minutes For those who have a bit more time & feel like taking a harder challenge will likely enjoy Tank 2. Gus & Destructo will invade the tank (although Sylvester & Balrog may still pop up). Since Gus will most likely be invading your tank than the others, you'll want to invest more in fish food upgrades than your blaster. Suggestions: *************** Fish Food : Lv 3 x 9 Blaster : Lv 2 or 3 (Optional) Extra Pets: 6 or less Starting Pets: ***************** Tank 2 : Stinky / Clyde, Prego, Zorf & Meryl Tank 3 : Stinky / Clyde, Prego, Seymour & Gumbo Tank 4/5: Stinky / Clyde, Seymour, Meryl & Presto Average Earnings: ~$20,000 (~1,000 Shells) Earnings Range : ~$5,000 to ~$35,000 <<< ---------------------------- AUTHOR'S NOTE ---------------------------- >>> Research for this section of the guide is currently incomplete at the time this guide was released to the publishers. This section will likely be updated in a future version as soon as enough information is obtained to provide you with a reasonable walkthrough here. If you have any suggestions that you are willing to share, please contact the author (See Section A) & your information may be included here with your name in the acknowledgements! In the meantime, we apologize for the inconvience... <<< ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> 10) Challenge Mode Walkthrough --------------------------------- Challenge mode is NOT for the feint of heart as it's one of the most extreme game modes available in Insaniquarium. However, for those who manage to get through the tanks of Challenge Mode in one piece get some bragging rights in addition to some shells. Because of the difficulty of Challenge Mode, you'll need to complete Adventure Mode to unlock it. <<< ---------------------------- AUTHOR'S NOTE ---------------------------- >>> Research for this section of the guide is currently incomplete at the time this guide was released to the publishers. This section will likely be updated in a future version as soon as enough information is obtained to provide you with a reasonable walkthrough here. This particular section will likely take some time due to the author's lack of skill & the extreme difficulty of this mode. If you have any suggestions that you are willing to share, please contact the author (See Section A) & your information may be included here with your name in the acknowledgements! In the meantime, we apologize for the inconvience... <<< ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> 11) Virtual Tank Walkthrough ------------------------------- The Virtual Tank is more a relaxation area than the other game modes as it allows you to go at your own pace with practically no pressures than what you place on yourself. There are a few things that are different in this mode than what you'll find elsewhere in the game. 1) The Tank's currency is in Shells instead of Dollars. You use the Shells to buy fish & tank accessories for your Virtual Tank. You can even use the Shells you collect to buy the bonus pets. 2) Store bought fish NEVER DIE! While neglecting them is NEVER a good thing to do, they'll just get depressed instead of dying. The only fish that will die are your "feeder fish" (for your carniverous fish) as they must abide by standard game rules... but they're free & most get eaten shortly after they enter the tank. 3) All required fish food is free. Unlike the other game modes, you can place as much fish food (of all required varieties) in the tank as you like without costing you a dime! 4) Aliens will not attack your tank... unless you want them to! As the Virtual Tank is more geared towards relaxation, they will not invade your tank UNLESS you have the alien attractor in the tank. However, the aliens will not touch your store bought fish... only the feeder fish, so you don't have to worry about wrecking your tank by letting them visit, as long as you have a way to attack them. 5) NO auto-pause. When you click outside the game window (if you're NOT running in full screen), the Virtual Tank will keep running... for good & bad. If you really want to pause the Virtual Tank, you'll have to hit the spacebar first. If you have the "Tank Automation" combo, you should be OK. All the pets that you've unlocked from adventure mode will be available for the Virtual Tank to help you out... so you'll have to play through the game to get the pets. When you create your player account, you're given 200 Shells to get you started. You earn extra shells by play the game one of the following ways: 1) Complete a Tank in Adventure Mode -- Playing the Shell Drop game. 2) Completing a Subtank in Bonus Adventure Mode -- Playing the Shell Drop game. 3) Completing a tank in Time Trial Mode -- 5% of your cash total 4) Completing a tank in Challenge Mode -- See above for payout 5) Playing with your Virtual Tank, either in game or as a screensaver -- Payout depends on your fish & their happiness There are other ways, but these are the most common. Just be aware that you can store up to 9,999,999 Shells in your wallet... but you won't needs to save up THAT MUCH for anything... Having over 1,000,000 Shells is a bit excessive... to be brutally honest. 11.1) The Buttons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The buttons on the tank bar are a bit different than the other game modes. Here's what you'll need to know. 1) Shop -- This is where you go to buy all the fish & tank accessories for your Virtual Tank. The shop is restocked every day (AFTER Midnight) with new stuff so visit fairly often to see what goodies are available for you. Please be aware that all fish purchased come with a 24-hour satification guarentee. If, for ANY REASON, you're unhappy with your purchase, you can return the fish to the shop for a full refund. 2) Fish -- This is where you can check up on the status of your fish & make modifications to them. You can also find out some interesting (but useless) information about each fish. There's 3 options available here. * Hide / Show -- This allows you to hide or show the selected fish in your tank... if you want to limit the number you see. * Rename -- This allows you to rename your fish, if you made a mistake in their name OR want to change it to something else. * Sell -- This allows you to sell you fish back to the shop. If the 24-hour satification guarentee is in effect, you'll get a full refund. OTHERWISE, you'll only get half your money back. HOWEVER, please be aware that some fish (like your guppies) WILL APPRECIATE in value as they grow, so you can make some quick money this way... but I don't suggest it. You'll most likely use this only when you need to open up a slot for a new purchase. Please be aware that there are only 20 fish slots. Once they're maxed out, you'll be forced to sell a fish before you buy any new ones. 3) Pets -- This is where you can select the pets you want in your virtual tank. Unlike the other game modes, you can swap pets in & out on the fly. HOWEVER, you have to unlock the pets in order to use them here. 4) Feed -- If your fish don't eat regular fish food, you'll need to click here to deliver your specialty fish food. If you have more than one fish that requires specialty food, a sub menu will appear below the tank bar for you to select it. Just click on the food you want to drop in the tank & it's done! The only restriction is that you can only drop enough food for one feeding per fish that requires it at one time. So you can't drop like 5 guppies into the tank for 1 carnivore. 5) Tank -- The tank options are listed here, like what background you want to use... if you want the Bubblator & Alien Atractor in the tank & if you want to enable the Insaniquarium screensaver. 6) Back -- This is just the quick option to leave the Virtual Tank. 11.2) The Shop ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The shop is where you'll be spending the majority of your Shells. There are at least 6 fish stocked in the shop on any given day & the shop is layed out as such (excuse the lame ASCII artwork) +---+---+---+---+---+---+ | A | | C | D | E | F | +---+ +---+---+---+---+ | B | | +---+ | | | +---+ +---+ | G | | H | +---+---------------+---+ Each slot is filled with the following: A - Regular Guppy -- 25 Shells B - Regular Carnivore -- 100 Shells C - Colored Guppy -- 500 Shells D - Colored Carnivore -- 1,000 Shells E - Special / Rare Fish -- 2,500 to 50,000 Shells F - Special / Rare Fish -- 2,500 to 50,000 Shells G - Tank Accessories (in order of availability) * Bubblator -- 20,000 Shells * Alien Attractor -- 50,000 Shells * Fish Food Upgrade -- 20,000 Shells * "Cookie" the Fish -- 50,000 Shells * Random Fish -- 25 to 50,000 Shells H - Tank Accessories (in order of availability) * New Background -- 15,000 Shells (Collect All 6!) * Random Fish -- 25 to 50,000 Shells For slots G & H, the item listed is based on what you have. If you have the item, go down to the next one on the list until you reach "Random Fish", which can be any fish that can be purchased... including the boring, regular fish OR a Special, Rare Fish. I will note that the fish tend to appear in the shop on a 21-day cycle, so bear that in mind when you see one that you may not get another opportunity for another 3 weeks. HOWEVER, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE MODIFY YOUR COMPUTER'S CLOCK FOR TIME-TRAVEL PURPOSES!!! THIS CAN SERIOUS DISRUPT YOUR TANK (AS NOTED IN SECTION 15.3)!!! 12) Miscellaneous Q & A -------------------------- Q.1) Why are my fish changing color? A.1) Your fish are getting sick with hunger... FEED THEM NOW OR ELSE!!! If you're dealing with your virtual tank, they're hungry & haven't been fed enough for the day... assuming you haven't enabled the "always show hungry fish" option. Fish in the virtual tank only need to be fed 3 times in one day to be covered... which this can be done in one sitting of about 5-15 minutes of gameplay OR just by running the screensaver for an hour or so with the "Tank Automation Crew". Q.2) Why are my fish dying? A.2) There's a few reasons behind this... 1) You're neglecting your fish, either because you too busy with other things OR you're practically bankrupt. 2) Tank overpopulation -- Too many fish & not enough food to go around to cover your needs. This usually happens in Tank 4. 3) You have a special hazard in your tank, like Amp, Shrapnel OR an alien (or two) that are killing them off. You can either pay more attention to the conditions of your tank OR you can just bring Angie with you to revive all the dead fish. Q.3) Why aren't my fish dropping shells? A.3) There's a few reasons behind this as well... 1) Your fish are too young or too small -- Just be patient & let them grow up a bit first. 2) You're neglecting your fish -- Fish will only take care of your wants & needs if you take care of them in return. Just feed all your fish 3 times per day, EVERY DAY & they'll be OK. As long as they're properly fed, they'll be happy & will drop shells... eventually. If you heavily neglected them, it'll take a couple of days to undo the damage you've done as they'll be depressed. If you don't have the time, just set up your virtual tank as your screen saver with the "Tank Automation Crew" & things should turn around. 3) You hit the theoretical "Shell Limit" on the screen saver. -- It's a rare thing, but the game sometimes sets an arbitrary limit to the number of shells that your fish can generate in a single session for your screen saver. Once this limit is reached, you fish will stop dropping shells for some reason until you interrupt the screen saver. This limit is at least 5,000 Shells, but it does vary per user & the contents of your tank. At last check for this "Shell Limit", it was around the 9,000 mark for me. To check for yourself, just modify your power saving settings so your screen saver can run for about a hour (or longer, if your tank doesn't have a lot of fish). This way, you can keep track of the shell tally. When your fish aren't producing any more shells, the number on the shell tally is your limit. Q.4) Why aren't my virtual tank fish growing? A.4) Patience! As long as they're happy & fed, they'll eventually grow in about 5 days (week tops). If you've neglected them for some reason, it'll take more time as you'll have to get their mood up. If you did any time traveling (which is a HORRIBLE IDEA), you could throw off their original schedule & it'll take a massive amount of time to fix (See Section 15.3). Please be aware that only guppies & Mini-Sylvesters can grow in the virtual tank. Q.5) Why isn't my virtual tank screen saver loading? A.5) There's two possible answers: A) You've disabled the Screen Saver -- Just re-select Insaniquarium from the screen saver list OR re-enable it in-game. B) Another player is loading up their virtual tank -- This one will require either diplomacy or separate accounts on the computer to fix. Q.6) Why is my screen saver freezing up? A.6) Your "Power Save" options between your computer & Insaniquarium are in conflict to each other. Once the power save option kicks in, the screen saver will freeze up your computer. It's a safe bet just to enable this setting since your computer will most likely have some power save options enabled. Q.7) Why is Stinky red? A.7) He's just angry because he hasn't been able to collect anything for you. It's only a temporary thing as he'll return to normal once he picks up something. This normally happens if you have Nimbus in the tank with him, but Clyde can cause it as well. Q.A) Hey you misspelled something! A.A) That's not really a question, but most misspellings occur either due to laziness or it's some jargon that common spell checkers won't know. I write my guides using Notepad++ & Spell-check using ASpell (which Notepad++ uses). Notepad++ doesn't spell check on the fly, so it's possible for me to overlooks a misspelled word originally before I actually run the spell checker (if I choose to run it). Additionally, some grammatical errors can be overlooked as well. Most grammatical errors are usually the result of thought fragmentation OR mental oversights. Usage of the Speech plug-in is helping me to catch some of these errors when things don't sound right when it's getting read back to you, even with an electronic voice. Q.B) What's up with the Bronze / Silver / Gold deal? A.B) It's just one way I separate myself from other guide writers. The metal notes is one way to show the development of the guide. * Bronze = Beta version... These are usually developmental versions that usually don't get published as there's usually gaping holes in the guide as well as a lot of spelling errors. * Silver = Release version... These may not contain everything, but they usually contain a lot of information to help people who want to read it. It's a bit more polished as there only a few spelling errors. * Gold = Final(?) version... These are practically complete guides & are highly polished (with practically no errors in it). This is as close as I get to saying "FINAL VERSION" without actually saying it. * Platinum = Deluxe version... You'll most likely won't find this version on most websites (like Game FAQ's) as it'll be in Acrobat format (PDF), contains pictures & formatted text (instead of the boring, basic text). This usually takes more time than what I usually prefer to do. Q.C) Can I use (a part of) your guide for my own? A.C) As long as you comply with the Creative Commons license this guide is released under (See Section D for the exact details), I don't really care what you do with my guide. Print it out, use it as a reference tool for your own guide or add salt & pepper before eating it... it doesn't make a difference to me as I prefer to keep the gameplay info that I've aquired to be free. If you had an agreement with me prior to Version 2.000 (when this guide was fully copyrighted), you can consider those agreements Null & Void. However, the Creative Commons license likely grants you the same permissions that your agreement had. 13) Tips & Cheats -------------------- Like nearly every game, there's bound to be some tips, tricks & cheats to be hidden in the game that you may want to find out about. 13.1) Keywords ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pop Cap is known to hide some special "Keywords" in their games to spice things up in their game with secret effects. These keywords vary from helpful to just plain silly. All you have to do is to punch in these keywords during gameplay to trigger their effect. Just type the keyword again to undo the effect. Please be aware that all the keywords are CASE INSENSITIVE! The capitalized characters are written here just to make them easier to read. * B (the key) -- Produces extra bubbles (with each keystroke) * This effect is only temporary, so don't worry about undoing it. * This effect DOES NOT affect the input of any other codes. * Give -- Allows a user to give shells to another user on that computer. * NOTE: Requires you to complete Tank 1 to unlock this. * IMPORTANT: Transactions are NOT reversible! * Prego -- Changes Prego's birthing sound * Space -- Changes the Tank background to outer space (Stars) * SuperMegaUltra -- Makes Prego's birthing sound REALLY ANNOYING * Time -- Shows / Hides the Tank's Clock (Time Elapsed only) * Void -- Changes the Tank background to a white screen * Wavy -- Enable / Disables wavy water effects * WeLoveBetaTesters -- Changes the breeder's birthing sound * Zombie -- Makes your fish LOOK dead (but they still act alive, though). 13.2) Secrets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These are a few lesser-known secrets in the game that you may enjoy... * After you pick up all 4 bonus pets, you can buy pet limit increases. * 4 Pets: 40,000 Shells * 7 Pets: 45,000 Shells (Virtual Tank Only) * Once you have purchased the 7-Pet upgrade, you'll see a silver trophy appear on the menu screen. This means that you can now access Sandbox Mode. * You can get the secret "Santa Fish" in your virtual tank by naming a newly purchased fish as "Santa". This fish will instantly because a big white guppy with red fins. Santa will drop bags of shells (worth 20 Shells) & will occasionally play a Christmas carol. 14) Sandbox Mode ------------------- Once you have the silver trophy, you can access the Sandbox Mode by using the most famous game code known to practically everybody. If you have been living in a hole or been out of touch with modern society since the mid 1980's... It's up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a. Don't type "up" here, just use the arrow keys for those (so it's ^,^,v,v,<,>,<,>,b,a if you understand the crappy ASCII graphics). If this is the first time you access Sandbox Mode, you'll notice that your pet limit is maxed out at 11 pets for your virtual tank. Sandbox Mode is something that the developers of the game created in order to test things in the game out without being confined to all the normal rules of the game. Sandbox Mode is usually removed before the game gets released to the public, but there are a few occasions (like this) when the developers hide it in the game... just waiting for others to stumble across it & enjoy. The base rules of the Sandbox are... 1) You're given $1,000,000 to start (instead of $200). 2) You must keep 1 fish alive in the tank at all times. 3) Fish food still costs $5 per unit. 4) All items in the shop bar still cost money. 5) Aliens will occasionally invade your tank (without spawning them yourself). Other than these rules, you can do whatever you want! When you're done, you can just hit the egg in the shop bar or hit "menu" & "return to menu". Nearly every key on the keyboard will instantly spawn a fish, a pet OR an alien into the sandbox. 14.1) Keyboard layout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nearly all the common keys on the keyboard will spawn a creature in the game, here's how they're laid out. IMPORTANT NOTE: These controls are CASE SENSITIVE. Everything EXCEPT the bonus pets are mapped to lower-case letters. The Bonus pets are mapped to the upper-case letters in the "home row" on the keyboard. In order to make it easier to read & access, the list is broken up into smaller chunks & is arranged from left to right, top to bottom of the standard QWERTY keyboard. If you're using a DVORAK or foreign non-ASCII keyboard, you're on your own here! 1 - drops small guppies 2 - drops carnivores 3 - drops star guppies 4 - drops starcatchers 5 - drops guppycruncher 6 - drops beetlemuchers 7 - drops breeders 8 - drops ultravores 9 - DOES NOTHING... 0 - STILL DOES NOTHING... +/- - Change Background q - spawns Stinky the Snail w - spawns Niko the Oyster e - spawns Itchy the Swordfish r - spawns Prego the Breeder t - spawns Zorf the Seahorse y - spawns Clyde the Jellyfish u - spawns Vert the Skeleton Fish i - spawns Rufus the Crab o - spawns Meryl the Mermaid p - spawns Wadsworth the Whale a - spawns Seymour the Turtle s - spawns Shrapnel the Mechafish d - spawns Gumbo the Angler f - spawns Blip the Dolphin g - spawns Rhubarb the Hermit Crab h - spawns Nimbus the Manta Ray j - spawns Amp the Eletric Eel k - spawns Gash the Shark l - spawns Angie the Angelfish ; - spawns Presto the Tadpole z - spawns Sylvester (the alien) x - spawns Balrog (the alien) c - spawns Gus (the alien) v - spawns Destructor (the alien) b - spawns Ulysses (the alien) n - spawns Psychosquid (the alien) m - spawns Bilaterus (the alien) A - spawns Brinkley the Scuba Diving Elephant S - spawns Nostradamus the Nosefish D - spawns Stanley the Small Sea Serpent F - spawns Walter the Penguin Spacebar - Pause 15) Bug Notices ------------------ As much as the developers would like to squash all the bugs before they release the game to the public, there's just some bugs that manage to get through... Either the Quality Assurance department didn't find it OR the programmers just didn't have enough time to fix them before the release deadline. Regardless how the bugs came to be, you should be aware of them as well as how to avoid them & how to fix them, should you run into them. Please be aware that these bugs are known issues for version 1.0 of the game. These may have been corrected in later editions, but not everybody runs the latest version of the game. 15.1) The "Tank 6" Bug ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Tank 6 bug occurs when you click on the menu button & select "Return to Menu" INSTEAD of clicking the egg AFTER defeating Cyrax in Adventure Mode. When you trigger this bug, the game will think you're going to Tank 6, which doesn't exist. Instead, it'll force you to repeat the boss level (Tank 5) over & over again. HOW TO PREVENT THIS: When you defeat Cyrax, just click on the egg to complete the level & Adventure Mode, which will bring up the credits. HOW TO FIX THIS BUG: There's 2 ways to fix this... 1) Uninstall & re-install the game -- This is annoying, but the only way to fix this bug under normal circumstances. 2) Use "The Fishinator" utility program from InsaniquariumGuide.com -- This is an quicker fix as it includes a "Tank 6 Bug Fixer" that will correct the bug, taking you back to Tank 1-1. Since the program is only 600 KB, it's a more paletable option as it only takes a minute to run the program. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< DISCLAIMER >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The author of this guide does NOT endorse, nor condone the use of The Fishinator to correct this bug. HOWEVER, the Fishinator includes a limited hacking system to modify your virtual tank by backing up as well as sending & receiving fish. Please be aware that you are using The Fishinator AT YOUR OWN RISK! While the program is relatively safe to use, it is a violation of the game's license agreement. If you have any problems with The Fishinator, please contact the makers of that program directly. DO NOT CONTACT me, N.M.E., Pop Cap Games OR Flying Bear Games about this program! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< END OF DISCLAIMER! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 15.2) Disappearing Tank Fish Bug ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may periodically notice that some of your fish are missing from your virtual tank. This can happen when you use the on-screen back button, but it doesn't happen all the time. HOW TO PREVENT THIS: ALWAYS leave the virtual tank by clicking on the menu button & then click "Return to Menu" HOW TO FIX THIS BUG: Click on the "Fish" button to make sure that you didn't sell the fish in question. Then, do a "Hide / Show" cycle (by click on the Hide / Show button) twice to make the missing fish visible again. 15.3) "The Bends" (Fish Depression Syndrome) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The Bends" isn't necessarily considered a bug, but it has bug-like symptoms because you attempted to cheat the game by time-traveling (by changing your computer's internal clock) & you're now paying the consequences of doing so. Symptions of "The Bends" include horribly depressed fish & the shop temporarily sold out on some items. HOW TO PREVENT THIS: NEVER TIME-TRAVEL... EVER! IT'S NOT WORTH IT!!! HOW TO FIX THIS BUG: The only way to fix this is a technique called "Progression through Regression", where you try to take care of your fish in a compressed timeline. You just feed all your fish at least three times for the day you're currently on. After you quit the game, adjust the clock one day closer to the actual date & re-feed your fish again. You'll have to keep repeating this for every day you time travel until you back to the present. This method IS time consuming, specially if you make a massive jump in time on your computer, but doing this will get your fish out of their depression & will eventually get them happy again. THIS MAY NOT FIX THE STORE PROBLEMS! The store will eventually fix itself once you get past the date you jumped to, assuming you jumped ahead in time. 15.4) Cookie Deja Vu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This bug is a lesser known bug, but if you sell "Cookie" (the fish-feeder) at any time, all the items that were in the lower left corner of the shop will return. HOW TO PREVENT THIS: Just don't sell Cookie... EVER! HOW TO FIX THIS BUG: Be prepared to spend 140,000 Shells & 4 days buying all the items that preceeded Cookie in the shop. Unless you really want to feed your fish by yourself... just take the prevention advice as this is an expensive lesson to learn. A) Acknowledgements ----------------------- The author would like to thank the following people, sites & companies: * Pop Cap Games (w/ Flying Bear) -- The creators of the game. * InsaniquariumGuide.com * For the Creation of the Fishinator. * Additional information for the guide. * Game FAQ's -- For hosting this FAQ. If you have any tips, information or suggestions for this guide. Please e-mail me at [email protected] with "Insaniquarium FAQ" in the subject line to make it stand out. Please note that this isn't my primary e-mail address (so it won't get spammed up), so don't get upset if I don't get back to you promptly... if at all. No flamebait POS messages please, I get enough of those at work. B) Further Reading ----------------------- If you like this game & would like to get more information, please check out the following sites. * InsaniquariumGuide.com -- Insaniquarium Guide site, mostly for the Fishinator. * notepad-plus.sourceforge.net -- Notepad++ * aspell.net -- ASpell C) Version History ----------------------- C.1) Abridged History from 0.100 to 1.521 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3:15 AM 2.12.2005 to 11:36 AM 7.07.2005 This was the first guide I ever written & didn't contain the standardized stuff that later guides. Here's the gist of the updates from from the old guide... * 1.300 -- Tanks 1-1 through 1-3 completed for Adventure Mode * 1.400 -- Sandbox mode added to the FAQ's * 1.420 -- Completed Virtual Tank Walkthrough * 1.420 -- Started work on Time Trial mode... * 1.430 -- First Published on Game FAQ's * 1.500 -- Added virtual Tank information about aliens * 1.500 -- Added "Bug Notices" to FAQ * 1.510 -- Corrected Shop Data for the Virtual Tank * 1.521 -- Corrected "Konami Code" secret (mixed up the a/b set up) C.2) Version 2.000 to 2.002 -- Silver Edition ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 12:20 AM 11.28.2009 to Present... Wow, it's been over 4 years since I last touched this guide... It's bigger & hopefully better than before! Let's get to the stuff that has been changed since then. * 2.000 - Reworked the TOC to a more standardized format * 2.000 - Changed the version system to standardized format * 2.000 - Changed copyright & licensing to a Creative Commons License (See Section D for details) * 2.000 - Abridged version history of previous versions * 2.001 - Added "Pet Stories" to the Pet's & Alien's section * 2.001 - Added Side-bars to Pet Combos * 2.001 - Corrected some overlooked spelling errors * 2.001 - Corrected some overlooked errors in the Sandbox Mode (accidentally swapped some creatures) * 2.001 - Updated Pets information * 2.002 - Started Framework for Adventure Mode Walkthrough * 2.002 - Started Framework for Time Trial Mode Walkthrough * 2.002 - Partial Completion for Time Trial Mode Walkthrough * 2.002 - Started Framework for Challenge Mode Walkthrough * 2.002 - Partial Completion for Adventure Mode Walkthrough D) Copyright Information & Licensing --------------------------------------- (c) 2005-2010 TStodden, (c) 2005-2010 NESpresso Multimedia Entertainment SOME Rights Reserved This guide is published under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License 3.0 (See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ for details). In short, you MAY use this guide in part or in whole (preferably not the entire guide to avoid plagiarism... unless you're going to host this) WITHOUT HAVING TO ASK FOR PERMISSION! To take advantage of this license (without e-mailing me), you just have to do the following: 1) Give me credit for the parts you used from this guide (a note in your acknowledgements is all you need). 2) You must provide your guide for free as well (hence the "Non-commercial"). -- I'm doing this for free, so you can go free as well! You may charge for the storage medium (paper, cd-rom, ect.), but it has to be "at cost". 3) Please e-mail me a note if you're going to use the guide in whole -- It's not part of the license, but I like to know where my work is hosted. 4) You are NOT REQUIRED to use the same license... although it doesn't hurt. That's about it! Again, check the address above for the "human" (simple) & "legal" (technical & legally binding) terms of the license. If you bother to e-mail me (see section A for details), I'll try to send you updates of this guide when they're ready... but it's not a guarantee as I normally publish updates on Game FAQ's first (as it's the public clearinghouse for game guides) & I might forget about you as I don't update on a regular schedule. The main reason why I'm releasing my guides under a Creative Commons license as it makes it easier for others to build on my work without as many legal hurdles to deal with. It also means I don't have to monitor the web as heavily for violators as this license is designed to permit others to distribute this... as long as they doing for free. However, it does give me the right to revoke the license in the future... but that creates too many legal issues to deal with. If you don't like the license, you can e-mail me (see Section A for the address) for non-license permission. Most requests accepted, but I'll likely place a commercial provision on such permission (as long I get a cut, I'll wont object). E) The Final Word ---------------------- This is line 2662 & the end of this guide.
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