Your desktop becomes a little aquarium.

AquaDesk - Desktop Aquarium is a life-sim game that turns your desktop into a small aquarium with tropical fish swimming through it.

The fish swim freely across your screen, offering a calm underwater view in the odd moment between tasks. It aims to be a desktop-resident aquarium experience: soothing just to watch, and rewarding to raise little by little while it idles.

You feed your fish and change their water as you raise them.

Every fish inherits colour and pattern factors from its parents, so a rare youngster can suddenly appear from two ordinary-looking parents. What shows up is not limited to real-world colours like albino — colours and patterns no real tropical fish has are far from rare here. Enjoy discovering what turns up, and build an aquarium that is yours alone.

As you progress, the skill tree unlocks new features. Conveniences for looking after the tank, touches that make the aquarium more beautiful, ways to deepen your bond with the fish — what you can do grows steadily to match how you play.

A joy to watch. A joy to raise. Always changing a little, even while you leave it alone.

AquaDesk brings a quiet, beautiful, living tank to your desktop.

The fish you'll meet

• Neon tetra — A glowing blue neon stripe over a red body. A little shoaling fish, and the first one you'll welcome.

• Bronze corydoras — A gentle catfish that bustles along the tank floor. Earns its keep as a cleanup crew, eating leftover food.

• White Cloud Mountain minnow — Bright red fins and a famously tough constitution. The perfect beginner's fish.

• Freshwater angelfish — A tall, elegant silhouette. Pairs for life with a chosen mate and guards the eggs together.

• Rummy-nose tetra — A blazing red nose and black-and-white bars on the tail. Shoals extremely tightly, wheeling all at once.

• Black phantom tetra — A black diamond patch, and large black fins on the males. Rival males square off with fins spread wide.

• Platy — A livebearer that gives birth to free-swimming fry instead of laying eggs. Crossbreeding brings out a variety of markings.

• Glass catfish — A curious catfish with a body as clear as glass. Schools hover gently in mid-water, all facing the same way.

Fish join you once you unlock them in the Skill tree or the SP Shop. More will be added in future updates.

Key features

• A living aquarium of tropical fish swimming across your desktop

• Fish from the neon tetra to the glass catfish, each with its own temperament and way of swimming

• A wallpaper mode that doubles as a living wallpaper

• A raising sim of feeding, water changes and breeding

• A genetics system that gives even fish of the same species different personalities and traits

• A collection of colours, patterns and combinations that go well beyond albino — ones no real fish has

• Feature unlocks through the skill tree

• Designed to enjoy while you work, or to progress as an idle game

• Build a quiet desktop aquarium that is yours alone