Feed, Clean, and Keep Visiting Your Fish
Care for Drawquarium fish by feeding them when hungry, returning regularly, and using the aquarium vacuum to remove leftover food and debris. Feeding supports growth, continued care can bring a metallic shimmer and eventually a golden fish, and Golden Scales unlock more creative options for your aquarium.
Follow a Simple Care Routine
- Visit your aquarium regularly to keep caring for your fish as they grow and your relationship with them develops.
- Feed hungry fish to support their growth, watching how the creatures respond to the food.
- Press Esc or the right mouse button to leave feeding mode when you are ready to return to other aquarium activities.
- Use the aquarium vacuum to clear leftover food and debris that remain in the tank.
- Collect Golden Scales to build up the progression currency used for brushes, templates, and aquarium customization.
- Spend your scales on an available creative unlock that suits what you want to draw or change in the aquarium next.
Read Food Reactions and Visible Mess
Fish react to food, but their behavior also responds to bubbles, new arrivals, and their surroundings. They can become excited or scared, so pay attention to what happened just before a reaction. A reaction during feeding is useful feedback about that interaction; avoid treating every movement or mood as a reason to add more food.
Leftover food and debris give you a visible cleaning task. They stay inside the aquarium until you remove them with the vacuum. After feeding, look around the tank and clean up what remains rather than letting decorating distract you from its care.
Build a check-in habit that fits your day. Start each visit by looking at the fish and the condition of the tank, then decide whether to feed, clean, or spend some time creating. Keeping that routine manageable is a better starting goal than trying to rush every part of progression.
Understand Growth, Metallic Shimmer, and Gold
Your creations begin small and grow over time as you feed and care for them. Well-cared-for fish can gain a metallic shimmer as they age. With continued affectionate care, you may eventually raise a golden fish.
A golden fish is a possible care outcome, while Golden Scales are the currency you collect and spend on progression. Keep those goals separate when planning your next visit. Continue caring for the fish you enjoy, and use your scale balance to choose an available unlock.
Approach shimmer and gold as reasons to keep enjoying the same creatures over time. Choose a fish you like watching and make its care part of your regular visits. If your main goal is a new drawing or a different-looking tank, pick a creative project to work on alongside that care.
Use Golden Scales to Develop Your Aquarium
Golden Scales unlock brushes, templates, and customization options, while the game description also connects collected scales with new decorations. A brush or template supports your next drawing; a decoration gives you another way to change the aquarium around your fish. Choose the unlock that helps with the project you currently want to make.
Aquarium customization includes rocks, driftwood, water level, sand, colors, and lighting. Use those options to develop a setting you enjoy returning to as your fish grow. You might focus on the tank's lighting before adding another decoration, or choose a new drawing tool when you feel ready to create another inhabitant.
Let Friendships and Rivalries Develop
Creatures interact with other inhabitants of the tank and can develop friendships, rivalries, and romantic relationships. They may quibble as enemies or find a soulmate. These relationships give you something to observe alongside feeding and growth.
You cannot simply decide that your fish will become friends. The official FAQ explains that they may form a friendship while spending time together, but the choice belongs to the fish. Watch their interactions and let the relationship develop instead of treating friendship as an immediate result of placing creatures together.
Raise Babies When Relationships Lead to Them
Romantic relationships can lead to soulmates and baby fish. Breeding is part of the game, and babies grow as you feed them. Let the creatures interact, continue their care, and include any offspring in your feeding routine when they arrive.
If your immediate goal is to raise a baby copy of an existing fish, click that fish and choose Clone. The clone starts as a baby. This gives you a direct copying option alongside the babies that can result from relationships.
Keep Demo Creations and Future Tanks Organized
The demo and full game can expose different features, so follow the care tools available in the version you are playing. The official FAQ says your demo fish and aquariums carry over into the full game. Keep backup copies of your images as the team recommends.
When you manage multiple aquariums, the fish list shows your creatures across all tanks, and fish can be moved between aquariums. Duplicating an aquarium copies its contents except the fish. Check where your existing creatures are before treating a newly duplicated tank as a replacement for their original home.