View User's Journal

Gaia's Aquarium system is a relatively new feature to the site in comparison to others. It's still undergoing constant changes and once we all think we know exactly what's going on, everything get's all switch around on us. I decided to add this section so that people would get a better understanding of how I go about finding the information I've collected on Aquariums, and also to get a peek at the experiments I might be conducting at any given time.

Below you'll be able to see information on each of my mule Aquariums, a journal of noticeable changes in each, and a list of questions that I'm currently aiming to answer through the
observation of these tanks.

Current Questions

What effect do the new Health percentages have on Overseer Items?
How much will a Heart fill in relation to your fish's numerical score?
Is there a specific time of day when the automatic changes in Happiness and Health occur?

Answered Questions

Under the new system of raising or lowering a fish's Happiness, are the point increments set or are each of them attached to a different setting in your Aquarium?
- Each setting in the Aquarium does not have a specific Happiness point value attached to it (i.e. music and temperature are not worth 8 points, and lighting is not worth 2 points). If your fish only prefers two of the settings in your Aquarium, they will always gain 8 points regardless of which settings are the ones they like.
Do fish have an affinity for the same species which will result in effects on their happiness?
- No they do not. Fish in an Aquarium filled with other fish of their species will not be happier or less happy because of that similarity. Fish in an Aquarium filled with fish of other species will not be happier or less happy because of that difference. The only effect this may have is if settings are chosen to compliment certain fish, and a new species is introduced that does not prefer those settings. The Happiness score of the new fish will change depending on how many preferences are met, as is always the case.
Is Aquarium Health effected by the variety (or lack of variety) of different species of fish you have in your Aquarium?
- Yes, having different species in your Aquarium will increase your Health more quickly than having one species. I'm still working on understanding how to determine the amount of gains you'll receive in Health, but it's clear that the more fish you have and the more different fish you have, the more your Health will rise.
What effect, if any, does feeding your fish have on Happiness and Aquarium Health?
- Once every day, the Happiness of your fish and Health of your Aquarium will increase based on your settings and any items added whether you feed them or not. You can, however, activate additional increases or reductions by feeding your fish more times. So far I haven't determined how many times you can do this, how often, or if you can only do it during certain times of day.
Under the new Health percentages, what correlation does Aquarium Health have with Fish Happiness?
How much does fish Happiness effect your Health percentage exactly?
- Happiness effects your Health by determining whether percentage increases or decreases. The actual number is determined based on how many fish you have, what species those fish are, and how many items you have in your Aquarium.
What effect, if any, do items have on the Happiness of your fish or Health of your Aquarium?
- Every item you add to your Aquarium will add .03% to the possible amount your Health can increase or decrease. This means that every new Aquarium starts with an additional .03% on top of what they get from their fish, because of the Overseer. Since the Overseer can't be removed, this also means you'll always have this .03% even if you don't have any other items.
What effect (if any) do Backgrounds have on your Aquarium?
- Aquarium Backgrounds are unique from other Aquarium items. Backgrounds add .04% to the possible amount your Health can increase or decrease. This is .01% more than any other item, including Aquarium Basic Terrain and the Overseer.
How often can you feed your fish and have changes in Happiness and Health occur because of it?
- Every six hours. The timer starts from when you had your first update during the day (the one which occurs whether you feed your fish or not), and is exact in terms of the very minute your fish's Happiness and Aquarium's Health last changed.
Are there certain times of day you can feed your fish and see changes in Health and Happiness or is that not important?

Subjects
Subject 1 - not currently testing
Fish: Cuttlefish (1)
Lighting: Natural
Music: O' Lighthouse
Temperature: Moderate
Decorations: Overseer (1), Aquarium Basic Terrain (1)

Subject 2
Fish: Cuttlefish (3), Goldfish (1), Arrow Fish (1)
Lighting: Black
Music: Seashell Shock
Temperature: Freezing
Decorations: Overseer (1), Aquarium Basic Terrain (1)

Subject 3 - not currently testing
Fish: Cuttlefish (2), Jellyfish (1)
Lighting: Natural
Music: O' Lighthouse
Temperature: Moderate
Decorations: Overseer (1)

Subject 4 - not currently testing
Fish: Arrow Fish (1), Cuttlefish (1), Goldfish (1), Sharktooth Fish (1)
Lighting: Natural
Music: O' Lighthouse
Temperature: Chilly
Decorations: Overseer (1), Aquarium Basic Terrain (1), Aquarium Fountain (1), Aquarium Rock Belt (1)
Background: Aquarium Background (Fun Machine)

Observation Log
The entries in the Observation Log are listed in reverse chronological order so that the newest entries are at the top and older entries are at the bottom. Times are listed by when the first subject was observed during that round of changes, not by when the entry was made in the log.

December 5th 5:37p EST

Subject 1: Cuttlefish Happiness level is at 1052, Health is at 26.67% (+.25%), received Green Corallus Egg 2nd Gen. from the Overseer.
Subject 2: Cuttlefish 1 Happiness level is 1040 (-2), Cuttlefish 2 Happiness level, is 1044 (-2), Goldfish Happiness level is 7024 (+8 ), Arrow Fish Happiness level is 11996 (-2), Health is 7.35% (+.55%), received 50g from the Overseer.
Subject 4: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1070 (+16), Sharktooth Fish Happiness level is 10040 (+8 ), Goldfish 1 Happiness level is 7064 (+16), Goldfish 2 Happiness level is 7048 (+16), Arrow Fish 1 Happiness level is 12086 (+8 ), Arrow Fish 2 Happiness level is 12086 (+8 ), Health is 9.18% (+.88%), received 250g from the Overseer.
Notes: Subject 1's Subject 3's Health and Happiness increased as though time froze on December 4th, due to not checking in. Additionally, the item I received was much better than anything I anticipated for this Health level. This suggests that Overseer gifts have become significantly more random than they were under the previous Health descriptions.
Notes: Subject 2's Subject 3's Health and Happiness increased as though time froze on December 3rd and 4th, due to not checking in.. Additionally, Health continued to rise despite the ratio of unhappy to happy fish being 3 to 1.
Notes: Subject 4's Health and Happiness increased as though time froze on December 4th, due to not checking in. Additionally, Health increase as anticipated boh today and on the 3rd. This means, I understand how to determine the possible amount that Health can change. The study being conducted in Subject 2's Aquarium is all I need to create a comprehensive section on Health.
Notes: It seems as though no changes (positive or negative) will occur in an Aquarium that isn't looked in on. I won't check in on Subject 3 until tomorrow to confirm this.
Change 1: Subject 2 receives another Cuttlefish. With no preferences met, an unhappy fish will have their Happiness score reduction of -2. Four unhappy fish would make a cummulative reduction of -8 (though, of course, only -2 is applied to each individual score). This will be -8 up against the cummulative gain of +8 for the one happy fish. I'm not expecting a reduction in Health because of this, however, I'm expecting there to be a reduction in Happiness when I add another Cuttlefish. This would give the unhappy fish -10 with only +8 for the one happy fish.

December 3rd 8:35a EST

Subject 1: Cuttlefish Happiness level is at 1036 (+16), Health is at 26.42% (+.24%).
Subject 4: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1054 (+16), Sharktooth Fish Happiness level is 10032 (+8 ), Goldfish 1 Happiness level is 7048 (+16), Goldfish 2 Happiness level is 7032 (+16), Arrow Fish 1 Happiness level is 12078 (+8 ), Arrow Fish 2 Happiness level is 12024 (+8 ), Health is at 8.30% (+.89%), received 70g from the Overseer.

December 2nd 8:42p EST

Subject 4: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1038 (+16), Sharktooth Fish Happiness level is 10024 (+8 ), Goldfish Happiness level is 7032 (+16), Arrow Fish Happiness level is 12070 (+8 ), Health is 7.41% (+.76%).
Notes: Subject 4's Health increased by .03% more than the highest number I anticipated, meaning Aquarium Backgrounds add more to the potential amount Health can change than other items. xFyreBritex is also recording changes to the Health in her Aquarium, and after trying to predict how much her Health would change I had a similar problem because she has a Background in her Aquarium.
Change 1: Subject 4 receives a Goldfish and Arrow Fish, to add new factors I need to consider when predicting changes in Health. I believe that Aquarium Backgrounds increase the possible amount that Aquarium Health can chage by .04% rather than .03%. If I'm correct, Health will increase by .88%-.89%.

December 2nd 5:37p EST

Subject 1: Cuttlefish Happiness level is at 1020 (-2), Health is at 26.18% (-.18%), received Fancy Virgin Dress from the Overseer.
Subject 2: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1044 (-2), Health is 6.31% (+.28%), received Dainty Black Peak Toes from the Overseer.
Subject 3: Cuttlefish 1's Happiness level is 1086 (+16), Cuttlefish 2's Happiness level is 1016 (+16), Jellyfish Happiness level is 5022 (+16), Health is 6.95% (-.39%), received 80g from the Overseer.
Subject 4: Arrow Fish Happiness level is 12062 (+8 ), Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1022 (+16), Goldfish Happiness level is 7016 (+16), Health is 6.65% (+.55%), received 200g from the Overseer.
Notes: Subject 1's Health decreased by -.01% less than it did the day before. This proves that there is a .01% margin of variation and that decreases in Health are new numbers (rather than being based on in most recent increase in the Aquarium's Health).
Notes: Subject 2's Health increased by the same increment as it would have increased were both fish happy. This suggests that a Health modifier is determined based on the number of fish, the species of those fish, and how many items are in your Aquarium. When the majority of your fish are happy, your score is increased by the amount of the Health modifier. When the majority of your fish are unhappy, your score is decreased by the amount of the Health modifier. When the number of happy fish is the same as the number of unhappy fish, your score will increase by the amount of the Health modifier..
Notes: Subject 3's Health increased by .01% less than what I predicted, due to a small mathematical mistake on my part. Unless the next test on Subject 4 goes differently than I expect, I now understand how to predict changes in Aquarium Health.
Notes: Subject 4's Health increased by .01% less than what I predicted due to mathematical error.
Change 1: Subject 1's settings are returned to Natural light, O' Lighthouse for music, and Moderate Temperature, as no tests are currently being conducted in that Aquarium.
Change 2: Subject 2's music was changed to Seashell Shock and an Arrow Fish was added. This was done to prove that the Arrow Fish and Cuttlefish will cause a score reduction of .51%-.52% due to being unhappy.
Change 3: Subject 3's temperature was changed to Chilly, a Sharktooth Fish was added, and an Aquarium Rock Belt was added. These changes were made to verify that I understand how to predict how Aquarium Health will increase or decrease. Also to test whether Backgrounds have an effect on Aquarium Health, Aquarium Background (Fun Machine) was added. If Backgrounds do not count as an item, Health should increase by .66%-.67%. If they do count, Health should increase by .72%-.73% (unless they effect Health differently than other items).

December 1st 5:37p EST

Subject 1: Cuttlefish Happiness level is at 1022 (-2), Health is at 26.39% (-.19%), received 150g from the Overseer.
Subject 2: Both Cuttlefish Happiness levels are 1046 (+8 ), Health is 5.98% (+.28%), received 70g from the Overseer.
Subject 3: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1070 (+-2), Jellyfish Happiness level is 5006(-2), Health is 6.56% (-.33%), received 120g from the Overseer.
Subject 4: Arrow Fish Happiness level is 12054 (-2), Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1006 (-2), Health is 6.10% (-.37%), received Cappuccino Long Sleeve Shirt from the Overseer.
Notes: Subject 1's Health decreased by the same increment as it would have increased were two or three preferences set, as expected.
Notes: Subject 2's Health increased by the same increment as it had during the previous round. Proving that the additional .03% is constant and not an isolated incident.
Notes: Subject 3's Health decreased by the same increment as it would have increased were two or three preferences set. This proves that the percentage gained or lost is determined by the quantity of happy fish, their species, and any items present. Happiness does not effect the number itself, it only determines whether there is an increase or decrease.
Notes: Subject 4's Health decreased by the same increment as it would have increased were two or three pferences set and one item present. This proves that the presence of the item effects both future increases and decreases in Aquarium Health after being added.
Change 1: Subject 1 receives Aquarium Basic Terrain with no preferences active to verify that items add to both the amount of Health gained or removed based on happiness. This is also done to confirm that when Health is removed based on having no preferences activated, the loss is not based on the previous gain but is a new number.
Change 2: Subject 2's music was changed to Kelp!, temperature changed to Freezing, a Cuttlefish and the Aquarium Basic Terrain were removed, and a Goldfish was added. This was all done to determine the effect on Health of having one happy fish and one unhappy fish.
Change 3: Subject 3's lighting was changed to Natural, music changed to O' Lighthouse, temperature changed to Moderate, and an additional Cuttlefish was added. This was all done to determine the effect on Health of having three happy fish (two of one species and one of another). If the amount is .4% then I may understand the math involved in determining Health increases.
Change 4: Subject 4's lighting was changed to Natural, music to O' Lighthouse, temperature to Moderate, and both a Goldfish and Aquarium Fountain were added. This was all done to determine the effect on Health of having three happy fish (all of different species) and two items in the Aquarium. If I understand the math involved in determining Health increases, then there should be a total increase of .56% (.5% for three happy fish of different species and .06% for two items).

November 30th 7:23p EST

Subject 1: Cuttlefish Happiness level is at 1024 (+8 ), Health is at 26.58% (+.19%).
Subject 2: Both Cuttlefish Happiness levels are 1038 (+16), Health is 5.70% (+.27%).
Subject 3: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1072 (+8 ), Jellyfish Happiness level is 5008(+8 ), Health is 6.89% (+.33%).
Subject 4: Arrow Fish Happiness level is 12056 (+8 ), Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1008 (+8 ), Health is 6.47% (+.37%).
Notes: Subject 1 received the same increase in Health that's received when three peferences are met, as is the case when there are two fish. Whether two or three preferences are met, it seems your Aquarium's Health will increase by the same increment (with a .01% margin of variation).
Notes: Subject 2's Health increased by .03% more after Aquarium Basic Terrain was added.
Notes: Subject 3's Health increased by the same amount as it would have were three preferences met. There was no penalty in Health for removing Aquarium Basic Terrain, but the aditional .03% increase was absent.
Notes: Subject 4's Health increased by .03% more after Aquarium Basic Terrain was added.
Notes: A little less than seven hours after I initially fed the fish in all subject Aquariums, feeding the fish again resulted in an immediate change in Aquarium Health. Changes in fish Happiness weren't evident until after the screen was refreshed. This proves it is possible to effect both attributes multiple times a day. The last attempt I made to accomplish this was 4:45p, so the interval is either between 5-7 hours or there are certain times during the day this can be accomplished.
Change 1: Subject 1's music was changed to The Conch Song and temperature set to boiling to verify that no preferences will reduce Aquarium Health by the same quantity that two or three preferences will increase it.
Change 2: Subject 2's lighting was changed to Black to verify that the increase for two preferences will be the same as three. This will also test to see if the .03% increase was an isolated incident or will be regularly added to Health increases.
Change 3: Subject 3's music was changed to Seashell Shock and temperature changed to Boiling to see if no preferences will reduce Aquarium Health by the same quantity that two or three preferences will increase it.
Change 4: Subject 4's lighting was changed to Black, music to Seashell Shock, and temperature to Boil in order to both test to see if the additional .03% increase from adding Aquarium Basic Terrain is constant and also to determine if it will be added to the amount of reduction caused by no preferences being met.

November 30th 12:36p EST

Subject 1: Goldfish Happiness level is at 7048 (+16), Health is at 26.39% (+.18%), received 120g from the Overseer.
Subject 2: Both Cuttlefish Happiness levels are 1022 (+0), Health is 5.43% (0%), received Water Puddle from the Overseer.
Subject 3: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1064 (+16), Goldfish Happiness level is 7064 (+16), Health is 6.56% (+.37%), received Flame Shirt from the Overseer.
Subject 4: Arrow Fish Happiness level is 12048 (+16), Sharktooth Fish Happiness level is 10016 (+16), Health is 6.10% (+.34%), received 80g from the Overseer.
Notes: Subject 1 received an increase in Aquarium Health of .18%, confirming that this is the regular amount Health will increase for one fish with three preferred settings and no decorations.
Notes: Subject 2's Health did not change, confirming that (without decorations) Health will not change if fish Happiness doesn't change.
Notes: Subject 3's had a gain in Aquarium Health that was .03% higher than usual after Aquarium Basic Terrain was added.
Notes: Subject 4's Health rose by the same amount as other combinations of two different varieties of fish. This prooves that Aquarium Health can increase more quickly in tanks with more than one species of fish.
Change 1: To test what effect one fish with two preferred settings and no decorations has on Aquarium Health, Subject 1's Goldfish was removed (since they don't have a lighting preference), a Cuttlefish was added, and the light was changed to Black.
Change 2: To test what effect two fish of the same species with three preferred settings and one decoration have on Aquarium Health, Subject 2 received an Aquarium Basic Terrain and settings were changed to Natural light, O' Lighthouse, and Moderate water.
Change 3: To test what effect two fish of different species with two preferred settings and no decorations have on Aquarium Health, Subject 3's Goldfish was replaced with a Jellyfish (because Goldfish don't have a lighting preference), the light was changed to Black, and the Aquarium Basic Terrain was removed.
Change 4: To test what effect two fish of different species with two preferred settings and one decoration have on Aquarium Health, Subject 2 received an Aquarium Basic Terrain settings were changed to Natural light, O' Lighthouse, and Hot water, and the Sharktooth Fish was replaced with a Cuttlefish.

November 29th 7:27p EST

Subject 1: Cuttlefish Happiness level is at 7032 (+16), Health is at 26.21% (+.18%).
Subject 2: Both Cuttlefish Happiness levels are 1022 (-2), Health is 5.43% (-.24%).
Notes: After seven hours I realized that I hadn't reverse changes I didn't mean to leave active in both Subject 1 and 2 Aquariums. Looking in on them, there didn't appear to be any change. Out of curiosity, I fed the fish in both tanks and changes in both fish Happiness and Aquarium Health were activated. This suggests the interval of time needed for changes in your Aquarium to take place is significantly less than 18 hours. The changes will not activate immediately though, and I'm guessing the interval of time is around 4-7 hours.
Notes: Though I could have fed Subject 3 and Subject 4's fish, I decided not to. Further study on multiple changes to Health and Happiness will be put off until tomorrow and isolated to only one subject initially.
Change 1: To verify that the previous increase of .19% was not a result of the Goldfish specifically, the Goldfish was returned to Subject 1's Aquarium to leave overnight.
Change 2: To verify that Aquarium Health will remain unchanged when fish Happiness doesn't change, the temperature in Subject 1's Aquarium was returned to Moderate for the rest of the night.

November 29th 12:34p EST

Subject 1: Goldfish Happiness level is at 7016 (+16), Health is at 26.03% (+.19%), received Red Octopus from the Overseer.
Subject 2: Both Cuttlefish Happiness levels are 1024 (+0), Health is 5.67% (0%), received 150g from the Overseer.
Subject 3: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1048 (+16), Goldfish Happiness level is 7048 (+16), Health is 6.19% (+.34%), received 4th Amigo Lucky Shirt from the Overseer.
Subject 4: Arrow Fish #1 Happiness level is 12032 (+16), Arrow Fish #2 Happiness level is 12016 (+16), Health is 5.76% (+.24%), received 30g from the Overseer.
Notes: Subject 1's new Goldfish yielded an increase in Aquarium Health that was only 1% higher than both previous Cuttlefish in the tank. No changes will be made in this tank to confirm whether this was due to the change in species, or a result of a common small variation in Health increases.
Notes: As expected, neither Cuttlefish had an increase in their Happiness level in Subject 2's Aquarium. The Health of the Aquarium also did not change. To confirm whether the Aquarium's Health will remain unchanged with these settings active, no changes will be made to this subject.
Notes: Subject 3's Health percentage increased by 34% again, suggesting there is either a small variation in the percentage of Health gain or that there was a mathematical error on my part in the previous round.
Notes: Subject 4's Health level rose by 24%. This was the same gain achieved by Subject 2 when both Cuttlefish had all of their preferences met. It suggests that Aquarium Health does rise more quickly if there are different species of fish in your tank.
Change 1: To make more use of Subject 3, items will be progressively added to this tank in order to observe any changes they cause. Aquarium Basic Terrain was added, though no change is expected to result from this particular item.
Change 2: Changes in Subject 4's tank suggest that fish of different species create higher increases in Aquarium Health than fish of the same species. To confirm this, one of the Arrow Fish was replaced with a Sharktooth Fish. This was done to eliminate the possibility of a Goldfish being responsible for the increase and because Cuttlefish and Arrow Fish cannot have all three of their preferences met in the same tank.
Accidental Changes: I removed the Goldfish from Subject 1 and replaced it with a Cuttlefish, and changed the Temperature for Subject 2 to Hot even though I later decided it would be better to reverse these changes to observe for one more day.

November 28th

Subject 1: Cuttlefish Happiness level is at 1016 (+16), Health is at 25.84% (+.18%), received 120g from the Overseer.
Subject 2: Both Cuttlefish Happiness levels are 1024 (+ cool , Health is 5.67% (+.24%), received 60g from the Overseer.
Subject 3: Cuttle fish Happiness level is 1032 (+16), Goldfish Happiness level is 7032 (+16), Health is 5.85% (+.33%), received 60g from the Overseer.
Subject 4: Goldfish Happiness level is 7016 (+16), Arrow Fish Happiness level is 12016 (+16), Health is 5.52% (+.34%), received 70g from the Overseer.
Notes: Subject 1's new Cuttlefish yielded the same increase in its Aquarium's Health as the older Cuttlefish that preceded it.
Notes: Subject 2's Cuttlefish both had a Happiness increase by 8, confirming that lighting does not have a unique point value attached to it. The Health of their tank increased by only 1% less than it did when all three of their preferences were met.
Notes: Subject 3's Health percentage increased by 1% less than is did the day before, although no changes were made to the Aquarium.
Notes: Subject 4's Health level rose by the same percentage as Subject 3. This suggests that the Cuttlefish is not responsible for the lower increase in percentage from Subject 2.
Change 1: The new Cuttlefish is removed from Subject 1's Aquarium and is replaced with a Goldfish. This is done to examine whether or not a solitary Goldfish has a different effect on Aquarium Health than a solitary Cuttlefish.
Change 2: The music in Subject 2's Aquarium is changed to The Conch Song so observe what effect having fish with only one preference satisfied has on Aquarium Health.
Change 3: The Goldfish is removed from Subject 4's Aquarium and replaced with an Arrow Fish. If this change yields a similar increase in Health as Subject 2, it may suggest that Aquarium's with only one species of fish receive lower increases in Health than those with different species.

November 27th

Subject 1: Cuttlefish Happiness level is at 1388 (+16), Health is at 25.66% (+.18%).
Subject 2: Both Cuttlefish Happiness levels are 1016 (+16), and Health is 5.43% (+.25%).
Subject 3: Cuttlefish Happiness level is 1016 (+16), Goldfish Happiness level is 7016 (+16), and Health is 5.52% (+.34%).
Notes: Subject 3 had the most sizable increase in Aquarium Health out of all three. This is most likely due to the fact that the Goldfish entered the Aquarium with a higher Happiness score than any other fish. A fourth subject with two fish of different species (neither of which are Cuttlefish) will be added to confirm this.
Change 1: The older Cuttlefish is removed from Subject 1's tank and replaced with a new Cuttlefish, to directly observe how a score of 1000 Happiness effects Aquarium Health.
Change 2: In order to determine whether Happiness increases or decreases by set amounts or specific quantities attached to each of the three settings, Subject 2's lighting was changed to Black. If the settings each have a specific quantity of Happiness attached, this subject's tank will have a Health increase of 14 rather than 8.
Change 3: Subject 4 is added to participate in round two. The subject's Aquarium holds a new Goldfish and a new Arrow Fish.

November 26th

Subject 1: Cuttlefish happiness level is at 1372 (+16), Health is at 25.48%.
Subject 2: Both Cuttlefish are added into the Aquarium. Happiness is 1000, and Health is 5.18%.
Subject 3: Cuttlefish and Goldfish are added into the Aquarium. Cuttle fish Happiness is 1000, Goldfish Happiness is 7000, and Health is 5.18%.

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