Chillquarium is a one man idle aquarium from Ben Reber, released 6 September 2023 and usually priced under six dollars. You buy booster packs of fish, drop them in a tank, and they grow on a wall clock whether the game is running or not. Grown fish either get sold for a lump sum or kept so they pay daily ticket money forever. There are 156 species across six packs, and each one can roll Painted, Golden or Rainbow colour variants behind long odds. Steam sits near 93 percent positive across more than 5,000 reviews, which tells you this is a screensaver you occasionally click rather than a game with a fail state.
Starting Chillquarium can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Chillquarium is a simulation game built around Real time fish growth and Booster pack odds. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Common | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Rare | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Epic | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Legendary | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Mythic | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Rare. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Mythic as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Real time fish growth
Fish grow against the system clock, not against play time, so a tank left alone overnight is further along than a tank you watched for an hour. Growth runs baby to juvenile to adult, and only adults hit full sale value and full daily ticket payout, which is why selling babies is only worth it when you need cash for the next pack.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Real time fish growth works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Starter Freshwater Tank
The 50 slot tank you begin with. Capacity is the binding limit long before money is, so the two cheap upgrades come before anything else.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Rivers and Ponds pack: it's the most accessible early upgrade. The second freshwater pack at 1,000 dollars per open. Still freshwater tank compatible, so it is the natural upgrade before you own any saltwater capacity.
Step 4: Understand Booster pack odds
Six packs gate the entire economy behind money. Freshwater Friends costs 10 dollars, Rivers and Ponds 1,000, Reef Fellas 200,000, Marine Dwellers 50 million and Giants 15 billion. Inside any pack the rarity split runs roughly Common 50 percent, Rare 35, Epic 14, Legendary 1 and Mythic near a tenth of a percent, and the final fish of a pack is always the special one.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Expanded Freshwater Tank
80 slots for 100 dollars and 100 slots for 200 dollars. Both upgrades pay for themselves within a day of ticket income, so there is no reason to delay them.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Real time fish growth
Fish grow against the system clock, not against play time, so a tank left alone overnight is further along than a tank you watched for an hour. Growth runs baby to juvenile to adult, and only adults hit full sale value and full daily ticket payout, which is why selling babies is only worth it when you need cash for the next pack.
Booster pack odds
Six packs gate the entire economy behind money. Freshwater Friends costs 10 dollars, Rivers and Ponds 1,000, Reef Fellas 200,000, Marine Dwellers 50 million and Giants 15 billion. Inside any pack the rarity split runs roughly Common 50 percent, Rare 35, Epic 14, Legendary 1 and Mythic near a tenth of a percent, and the final fish of a pack is always the special one.
Painted, Golden and Rainbow variants
Colour variants stack on top of rarity. Painted lands about one fish in eight and roughly doubles value, Golden is several hundred times rarer and multiplies by about ten, Rainbow sits near one in 8,192 and multiplies by about 25. Pity counters guarantee a Golden and a Rainbow after a set number of fish, so a long dry streak is the system working rather than breaking.
Ticket income versus selling
Every fish is either stock or income. Selling pays once, at a price driven by species, rarity, variant and size. Keeping it pays ticket money every day for as long as it stays in the tank. A Rainbow Legendary earns so much more per day than a plain Common that the standard setup is one tank you never touch and a second tank you churn constantly.
Tank capacity upgrades
The starter freshwater tank holds 50 fish, upgrades to 80 for 100 dollars and to 100 for 200 dollars. Saltwater tanks are a separate six figure purchase and are the only home for Reef Fellas, Marine Dwellers and Giants fish, so buying the first saltwater tank is the real mid game wall rather than any single pack.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Filling all 50 starter slots with cheap Commons and then having nowhere to put the first good fish
2. Selling adult fish that were earning strong daily income to fund one more pack, which nets you less money over a week
3. Buying the Reef Fellas pack before owning a saltwater tank
4. Opening packs one at a time, which makes the pity counters feel broken because progress is invisible at that scale
5. Treating this like an active game and sitting on the tank screen
Growth is on a real clock and staring at it changes nothing.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Real time fish growth and Booster pack odds
- Choose Rare as starting build
- Clear Starter Freshwater Tank main content
- Acquire Rivers and Ponds pack or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Expanded Freshwater Tank
- Buy both freshwater tank upgrades before your first Rivers and Ponds pack. 300 dollars total buys 50 extra slots, and slots are the bottleneck for the whole early game.
- The game credits growth from the system clock, so quitting and coming back tomorrow is mechanically identical to leaving it running. There is no benefit to keeping it open.
Tips for New Players
- Buy both freshwater tank upgrades before your first Rivers and Ponds pack. 300 dollars total buys 50 extra slots, and slots are the bottleneck for the whole early game.
- The game credits growth from the system clock, so quitting and coming back tomorrow is mechanically identical to leaving it running. There is no benefit to keeping it open.
- Pity counters track fish opened, not packs bought, so opening 500 cheap Freshwater Friends fish moves you toward a guaranteed Golden faster than a handful of expensive pulls.
- Sell plain Commons and Rares the moment they hit adult size. Their daily income is low enough that the slot is worth more than they are.
- A Painted fish is worth roughly double a plain one and Rainbow roughly 25 times, so a single Rainbow Common can out earn several plain Epics.
- The last fish in every pack is guaranteed special, which means abandoning a pack halfway wastes the one pull that was going to be good.
- Do not buy a saltwater pack before the saltwater tank. The fish need somewhere to live and buying in the wrong order strands your money.
- Work out how many days of ticket income a pack costs before buying it. Once a pack costs more than a week of income, save instead of gambling.
- Keep a few slots empty in your churn tank so a good pull always has somewhere to go without forcing a panic sale.
- Species count and variant count are tracked separately on the collection screen, so a duplicate Golden of a species you already own still advances completion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Chillquarium keep running when the game is closed?
Yes. Fish growth is measured against the system clock, so closing the game overnight and reopening it in the morning gives the same progress as leaving it running. Ticket income accrues the same way.
How rare is a Rainbow fish?
Roughly one in 8,192 fish opened, with a pity counter that eventually guarantees one. Painted variants land around one in eight and Golden sits somewhere in the hundreds to a thousand, with different community sources reporting slightly different Golden odds across patches.
Is there an ending?
Not a story ending. The practical finish line is affording the 15 billion dollar Giants pack and completing the 156 species collection plus their colour variants.
Should I sell fish or keep them?
Keep anything with a colour variant or Epic and above rarity, sell plain Commons and Rares. A kept fish pays daily forever, so the break even point against a one off sale is usually a matter of days for high rarity fish.
Is it worth the price?
It is a sub six dollar idle game with about 93 percent positive reviews from more than 5,000 players. If you want mechanical depth it is thin, but as a low effort collection game it delivers exactly what the store page promises.
More Chillquarium Guides
- Chillquarium Chillquarium Overview
- Chillquarium Best Builds
- Chillquarium Tier List
- Chillquarium Walkthrough
- Chillquarium Tips & Tricks
- Chillquarium Weapons Guide
- Chillquarium Combat Guide
- Chillquarium Boss Guide
- Chillquarium Maps & Locations
- Chillquarium Crafting Guide
- Chillquarium Classes & Characters
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