Planet Zoo 2 Aquariums: Building, Cleaning and 37 Animal Records

Start with the aquarium boundary and Staff Gate, then connect powered filtration before adding animals. Choose your task: build and fill a tank, check dirty water or leaks, or record a deep-water welfare problem after loading.

Build and fill an aquarium: the official workflow

Frontier’s Aquariums guide gives the following sequence. These are developer instructions; Game Field Guide has not tested them in a current build.

1. Open the Habitat Barrier tool and choose Aquarium. Draw the aquarium boundary with the Line or Curve tool.
2. Add an Aquarium Staff Gate; Frontier says the space then fills with water automatically. The starting water is freshwater.
3. Connect the node on the Staff Gate to a Filtration Network with powered Water Filters. Use the network to set the salinity required by your animals: freshwater, brackish or saltwater. Check each species in the in-game Zoopedia.
4. Add the species’ feeders, nests and enrichment from the Aquarium tab. Adjust foliage, scenery and terrain to meet its environment needs.
5. Arrange Keeper access and Mechanic servicing, then transport the aquatic animals into the finished enclosure. Keepers enter through the Staff Gate in diving suits; the gate can be raised above ground.

For temperature control, Frontier says the Aquarium Staff Gate needs power; use the Environment tab of the Aquarium Info Panel and check each species’ preferred range. To change barriers or lower terrain later, first box the animals and remove the water. The Drain Water button is below the Aquarium Info Panel. Edit the empty tank, then restore the water. Keep a separate save before changing a troubled aquarium.

Water dirty, tank dirty or leaking? Check the matching system

• Water Cleanliness falling: inspect the Staff Gate network connection, power to filtration facilities and the network’s filtration rate versus demand. Frontier says the rate must exceed demand to prevent cleanliness loss; demand increases with water volume and animal numbers. Address the shortfall before expecting water cleanliness to recover.
• Tank Cleanliness falling: send a Keeper to clean inside the aquarium. A filter does not replace this staff task; low Water Cleanliness makes Tank Cleanliness decay faster. Check both readings separately.
• Cracks or leaks: check barrier Condition and send a Mechanic to service it. Cleaning by a Keeper and barrier repair by a Mechanic solve different maintenance tasks.
• Animal illness: Frontier links low Tank and Water Cleanliness to disease risk. Its guide directs affected animals to quarantine and Vet treatment. Deep-water welfare stuck on calculating is a separate symptom; record it with the deep-water checklist.

These checks follow the official guide and do not establish a universal fix, minimum depth, mixed-species compatibility, or a guaranteed filter count. Use the live panels in your own save for the actual requirement and network demand.

Deep-water welfare drops after loading: what to record first

In an October 14 player questions thread, one aquarium keeper reported that a blacktip reef shark’s deep-water welfare fell to zero after reloading a save and then remained on “calculating” despite deepening the floor. A reply described a different outcome: reloading fixed their case. These are player reports, not a confirmed universal bug or a tested fix.

Frontier’s October 14 Update 1.0.4 notes include changes to shoal welfare requirements and the Zoopedia. They do not explicitly say the blacktip reef shark’s deep-water calculation after loading was fixed. Check the version shown in your client; do not treat the patch’s broader animal changes as proof that this specific report is resolved.

1. Record the game version, platform, game mode, species and number of animals. Capture the animal’s welfare/deep-water panel and the same tank from above and from the side.
2. Check the current in-game Zoopedia entry and welfare panel for that species. The dated web roster below does not supply today’s depth or area threshold.
3. If possible, compare the same tank before and after loading a separate copy of the save. Note whether the value is zero, still calculating, or changes after time passes. Keep the original save intact.
4. Record what you changed, one step at a time: tank floor, water boundary, animal assignment or save reload. A change that coincides with recovery is not proof of its cause.
5. If the issue persists, submit the version, save details and screenshots to Frontier’s Issue Tracker; link an existing report when one matches your case.

We have not reproduced this behavior in a current build and cannot provide a verified water-depth number or repair sequence. If you share a report, include the welfare requirement beside a side-on tank view, with platform, build and capture date.

Aquarium features confirmed by Frontier

How many aquarium-capable records are in this snapshot?

The official Planet Zoo 2 Zoopedia snapshot checked October 20, 2026 contains 37 aquarium-capable records: 21 marked HabitatAquarium and 16 marked HabitatAquarium|Exhibit. Twenty-one of those 37 carry the shoal-fish flag; they are a subset, not 21 extra animals. This is a dated web roster, not a tested list of compatible tank mates.

Frontier confirms custom freshwater and saltwater aquariums, filtration systems, keeper access for animal care, individual aquatic animals and shoal fish. Exact welfare values, tank dimensions and compatible species combinations in the current game build have not been checked by Game Field Guide. Use the in-game Zoopedia and animal welfare panel before copying a design from this dated list.

The same 136-record official Zoopedia response checked October 20, 2026 supplies all lists below. The two enclosure groups are mutually exclusive: 21 aquarium-only records plus 16 aquarium-and-exhibit records equals 37 aquarium-capable records. Enclosure labels are data categories, not proof that two species can share a tank.

Aquarium habitat records (21)

Blackspotted Puffer, Blacktip Reef Shark, Clown Triggerfish, Dolphinfish, Giant Grouper, Golden Trevally, Great Hammerhead, Hawksbill Turtle, Humphead Wrasse, Indian Ocean Oriental Sweetlips, Indo-Pacific Leopard Shark, Javanese Cownose Ray, Longfin Batfish, Ocean Sunfish, Ocellated Eagle Ray, Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Pacific Sardine, Red Lionfish, Sailfin Snapper, Sand Tiger Shark and West Indian Manatee.

Aquarium and exhibit records (16)

African Tigerfish, Blue and Gold Fusilier, Bluespine Unicornfish, Blunthead Cichlid, Boeseman's Rainbowfish, Brown Trout, Clown Anemonefish, Clown Loach, Common Rudd, Giant Gourami, Indo-Pacific Sergeant, Koi, Palette Surgeonfish, Schooling Bannerfish, Threespot Damselfish and Yellow Tang.

The 136-record animal database lists each animal’s edition, enclosure field, shoal flag, reveal date and official source from this same snapshot.

Which of these records are flagged as shoal fish?

The official dataset marks these 21 of the 37 aquarium-capable records with ShoalFish: African Tigerfish, Blue and Gold Fusilier, Bluespine Unicornfish, Blunthead Cichlid, Boeseman's Rainbowfish, Brown Trout, Clown Anemonefish, Clown Loach, Common Rudd, Giant Gourami, Golden Trevally, Indian Ocean Oriental Sweetlips, Indo-Pacific Sergeant, Koi, Longfin Batfish, Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Pacific Sardine, Palette Surgeonfish, Schooling Bannerfish, Threespot Damselfish and Yellow Tang.

Koi is included in this snapshot’s shoal list. A shoal flag is not an additional animal record or evidence of current controls, breeding, costs, group limits or welfare requirements. The official payload retains an exportDate of October 5 despite later reveal dates; October 20 is our actual source-check date, not a claim about when that export was created.

Plan an aquarium without guessing welfare values

1. Choose a freshwater or saltwater concept.
2. Reserve staff-side access rather than designing only for the guest view.
3. Leave room for filtration and maintenance facilities.
4. Separate the animal-care route from busy guest paths.
5. Check the current in-game compatibility and welfare displays before combining species; this page has not verified a compatible pairing.
6. Keep room to adjust the tank after checking the chosen species in the current game build.

This is a design checklist, not a claim that every item is required in the same way for every species.

Check your species and installed build

Before copying a tank, check the chosen species’ current in-game Zoopedia and welfare panel for space, water and group needs. Use the filtration panel’s actual demand rather than a fixed filter count. This guide has not independently measured minimum dimensions, mixed-species compatibility, care-task timing or aquarium performance.

For a persistent failure, keep a separate save and report the platform, installed build, species, exact panel message and one change at a time. Use the loading/welfare checklist for that specific symptom. The animal database supplies the dated roster; the guide hub covers the other enclosure types.

Sources and update history

• Frontier Aquariums guide — building, Staff Gate, filtration, salinity, temperature and separate tank/water maintenance instructions; checked October 20, 2026.
• Planet Zoo 2 official features — aquarium construction, freshwater and saltwater, filtration and keeper access.
• Official Zoopedia — aquarium-capable records, enclosure fields and shoal flags.
• Planet Zoo 2 on Steam — official game overview.

Update history

• July 30, 2026: Recorded the first 17 aquarium-capable official records.
• October 2, 2026: Rebuilt aquarium and shoal counts from the 124-record official Zoopedia export.
• October 16, 2026: Checked Frontier Update 1.0.4; no in-game test or specific fix verified.
• October 20, 2026: Checked the official 136-record Zoopedia snapshot (37 aquarium-capable, including 21 shoal-flagged), and added Frontier’s construction and maintenance workflow. No current-build gameplay test performed.

Game Field Guide is independent and is not affiliated with Frontier Developments.