Aquariums and Water Gardens: Lovely (and Cheap!) Fun

The answer is build yourself a water garden and an aquarium! Sound too complicated? Believe me, it’s one of the easiest goals you can have, and with items that are only valued, on average, between 1 to 5 NP, what do you have to lose? Just follow these simple instructions.

Let’s start with the aquarium. First step is to create a gallery if you don’t already have one. I know, galleries are often where people put super expensive items and things they cherish. Items costing less than 5 NP don’t seem to belong, but trust me. Next, get yourself some fish. I, personally, like the lesser spotted fish, as they are rather attractive, but don’t stop there. Here is a list of cheap fish that you might want to consider for your soon-to-be aquarium:

Lesser Spotted Fish

Scrawny Fish

Rock Fish

Water Fish

Breadfish

That ought to get you started. If you feel like spending a little bit more, there are other, more expensive fish.

As you may know, aquariums often have ornamentation, so why not your neoaquarium? You can spruce up your space by adding some plant life like a grey sea fern, giant red kelp, or even a mossy rock. Of course with all things, there is a more expensive way to do it. If you have some NP to spend, try a starry or prismatic sea fern. If you want to really personalize it, you can add a background and a description. Sound fun? How about a water garden?

Water gardens are loved almost the whole world over. Why not have a neo one? It’s as simple as adding an aquarium. First, you need a neohome. Lots of people don’t mess with these, but trust me when I say they are fun and worth it. Next, go to the build section, and click on the space you want to build a garden on. A little window will pop up, and at the bottom it will say “build a garden.” Now, this is the part that takes some patience. Because your garden is being “built,” it may take several hours to complete. When it is done, you can start by selecting a color for the garden. To do this, run your cursor over the arrow on the lower left side of the screen. Little color boxes will come up with pluses and minuses. Adjust the color to make the ground the shade you want, i.e., if you want a sandy colored ground, adjust the color so it is yellow, and the same thing if you want a blue-green ground.

The next step, of course, is to pick some plants. Here’s a list of some cheap ones you might consider:

Grey Sea Fern

Giant Red Kelp

Giant Green Kelp

For a little bit more, you can get shimmery sea grass. If you get several of these, you can then arrange them in your garden. For mine, in order to really give the feel of water, I made the plants follow the wavy oval on the ground.

For a basic garden, you end up spending less than 200 NP, less than a hundred if you keep to the 1 NP items. However, if you want to spruce it up further, you can add a focal point. If you want to go cheap, you can add a mossy rock in the center. If you want to spend a little more, you can buy a fishing gnome or some other kind of plant. I have an orb plant in the middle of my garden, even though it is not a water plant, but it is blue and yellow and looks very watery.

A little piece of advice: when you work on a garden, ANY garden, or any room for that matter, make sure you save it! To do this, run your cursor over the arrow in the bottom left of the screen, the same one you used to change the color. There is a square marked “save.” Press it, and it will save your garden. If you don’t save it, your garden won’t disappear, but you will have to rearrange whatever items you have in there. It’s not a big deal, but it is kind of a pain! So make sure you save it.

So what are the benefits of having a water garden and an aquarium? Well, first, it gives you something to do with those items that are otherwise considered kind of worthless. That’s definitely a plus. Second, it gives you a beautiful space for very little NP. Third, it helps you set a goal. Not everyone wants to save for a paint brush or collects trading cards, so completing an aquarium or water garden is a very simple goal. And lastly, they are changeable. When you get more and more NP, you can buy more and more expensive plants and ornaments, but not only that it, is totally reversible! When you paint a pet, that’s it. That’s thousands, often hundreds of thousands, of NP you won’t get back. But if you decide that you don’t want a water garden or aquarium anymore, you can sell everything back for at or close to the price you bought them for!

In short, ask yourself: what do I have to lose? You can boast a wonderful and unique garden and gallery (aquarium) that no matter what, even if you follow my directions exactly, is not like anyone else’s. So come on. Go play with some water!