As players swim to the waters of FishVille, the team behind the wet and soothing Facebook game are adding several enhancements that it hopes will improve your gameplay.



For those who are managing multiple tanks, simply click on the MyTanks button will add a red glow to any tank that needs immediate attention. Friendly-types will appreciate that they can now gift up to 60 items a day, a great way to show your love and appreciation for any neighbor. Finally, the team has brought back the pointer tool after users asked for its return. While the team is still evaluating other options, the pointer tool that the team posted on its official Facebook page has Fish Love hearts on it... could a new pointer replace the Fish Love button?

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With so many aquarium games showing up on Facebook over the past few weeks, it's tough to keep up. Each offers their own strengths and weakness and depending on a player's test, there's fun in each of the games. Rather than launch an exhausting piece about those differences, we decided to focus on one of the things that every aquarium game -- food.

From simple dots to nearly 3-D objects, the look of food can take many forms. So we took snapshots of the fish food from FishVille, Happy Aquarium, Fish World, My Fishbowl and Fish Life to let can decide.

CrowdStar's been on cloud nine over the past few weeks as its Happy Aquarium game on Facebook went from 10 million to 26 million active monthly users in one month. Yet this week, Zynga's return to the pool, FishVille, which was pulled offline by Facebook to deal with some ad deal concerns, roared back to life this week by beating Happy Aquarium by almost 200,000 users for the week. The really interesting number, as reported on by Facebook app tracking site AppData.com is that FishVille gained nearly 50% of that weekly growth today! Here are the numbers:



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If you've just starting playing Zynga's FishVille on Facebook, the task of leveling up takes a little time to figure out. But we've been swimming with the fishes for the past few days and discovered several tips on how you can gain the most experience points (XP) from your early days with FishVille.

1) Picking the right fish

FishVille players need to wait until their fish mature in order to sell them. Choosing the rapidly maturing Mini Dart Goby fish is an early, and cheap, option for only 9 Coins but we recommend choosing fish that take longer to mature. Our current favorite, pictured here, is the Scooter Blenny. Purchased for 88 Coins and grows every 24 hours, when sold it brings in 221 Coins. Along with coins, the Blenny also brings in a lot of XP and with more XP, the faster you'll level up.

2) Let some fish mature

So what's so big about letting your fish mature? The first Scooter Blenny we looked at was one day old. Here, a two day old fish has doubled the coins and experience it will gain when sold.


2) Dress up that tank

Adding accessories may seem like a personal preference that uses up the coins that you'd normally use to buy more fish, purchased items to add to the XP bin too.

You don't have to be continuously connected to Facebook in order to check out your customized fish tank. MyReef 3D Aquarium for iPhone/iPod Touch lets players of FishVille, Happy Aquarium and other newly-fish obsessed players get a calming dose of swimming fish from their car, office or while waiting in that two hour line at the DMV.

While it lacks the experience point rushes of its fishy Facebook game peers, the game has just added five new colorful breeds (now 19 total), a portrait mode and an option to play your own music from your iPod playlist. Or, of course, you can plug into a charging station and kick back with a new mini-aquarium.

First, the details on the fish, in-tank items like coral and plants is simply amazing. For those who prefer to customize their tanks, eight backgrounds and eight sand types for the bottom of the tank do drastically change the look.. The in-tank items and even gives the user control of where those items are placed. Tapping on the tank and feeding are done by choosing a menu that the user brings up when needed. Oddly, we really enjoyed the Light Off option that lets you dim the lights on the scene.

To test how real it looked, we presented Candy, the Games.com test cat with My Reef 3D. At first, she was unsure about the game but quickly grew accustomed to watching several fish float by. While she didn't attempt to claw them, she too enjoyed the visuals and asked for more play time after the test period.

So there you have it. Silky-smooth motion and photograpic style visuals make MyReef 3D Aquarium about as real as it gets without tank cleanings, dead fish or fish smell. As a perk for impulse shoppers buying MyReef 3D Aquarium looking to make the dive, it's available for a limited time $0.99 price tag through the App Store.

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Now that FishVille is back, it appears that the creative team at Zynga used the downtime to work on a new notification that pops up after a player adds new eggs to their tank. Previously, players would merely return to the game every so often to feed or sell their fish. While seasoned time management pros playing other Zynga games such as Cafe World and FarmVille might view the note as minor, new users should gain the most from the visual reminder.



FishVille's list of Decorations seems to have grown (we're not sure which ones are new) and the Backgrounds button is still disabled but we're happy to get back into Zynga's last to find that our fish haven't floated in the days since we last visited.

Play FishVille >>

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Boasting 24 million active users, Happy Aquarium is clearly the big fish to beat on Facebook. Now Zynga's dropped its hook to see if it can catch that many and more with the just-released FishVille. To test the waters, we decided to fillet both into categories to see which aquarium game swims... and which one sinks.

Eye Candy

Add fish, water and glass and you have a viable fish tank. Happy Aquarium's starter tank is barebones as players use coins to add plant, coral, rocks and other submergible treasures although five different sand colors are free. FishVille's basic tanks feature a eye-catching background and a must more simplified list of tanks accessories. While we were going to give the category to FishVille because Happy Aquarium's eye-pleasing backgrounds are purchased with Pearls (earned but easier to buy with real money)... but FishVille's backgrounds are "Coming Soon." Happy Aquarium takes the candy by offering one awesome feature, full-screen play.

Winner: Happy Aquarium

Feeding

Fish need food to grow and both games deal with those morsels in very different ways. Happy Aquarium requires players to purchase food whereas FishVille offers the ultimate in fish buffets, free food. If you like feeding fish all the time, FarmVille is for you. But we like Happy Aquarium's 3 Day Feeder option that lets us kick back to watch and sell fish instead of feeding them all the time. But that options comes with a real price... you have to buy it with real money.

Winner: FishVille

The makers of FarmVille have released a brand new simulation game on Facebook -- FishVille. Instead of virtual farming, FishVille puts you in charge of a fish tank, where you can raise and sell fish, and decorate your tank with a variety of themed items from an in-game store. The question is: will this new Facebook game make people put down their virtual hoes and pick up a fish net instead? Vote in the poll below.



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Play FishVille on Facebook Now >

Zynga, makers of FarmVille and Cafe World have released their newest game - FishVille. This game promises to be a hit just like Zynga's previous efforts, even though it's still in it's infancy. We took a video of our first few moments playing the game, and you'll almost instantly see some familiar gameplay elements from both FarmVille and Cafe World.

Will fish tank simulators be the new farming game? Time will tell.

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Back in October, Games.com reported that Zynga, known for games such as FarmVille, YoVille, and Cafe World, had trademarked the term "FishVille." Today, the company launched the game based on the trademark. Just as Facebook players are enjoying the new found popularity if Happy Aquarium, My Fishbowl and Fish World, it seems like the Zynga's late to the party. Inside Social Games already is asking How Big Will This Virtual Aquarium Game Get.

Similar to other games in the aquarium games genre, FishVille tasks the player with buying eggs, feeding hatched fish and selling them. In our first few minutes of the game, we've already seen a few differences. First, smaller fish require more constant feedings (two times in five minutes), and while hungry fish show their needs via thought bubbles, other fish may eat the food before it before it floats down. Thankfully, food is free.



Similar to the gameplay of Zynga's Cafe World, players go to the store and purchase eggs for various types of fish that take various lengths of time to mature. Once matured, scooping the fish is all that's required to get paid. Experience Points, used to level up in the game, is gained by adding new eggs and selling fish. One nice new feature we noticed is the ability to operate up to three fish tanks at a time.



Even with FishVille's relatively late arrival, it's worth checking out, especially for players of other aquarium games that feel slow in comparison.

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