a living procedural aquarium
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Every fish on screen was grown from a species genome — a body spline, parametric fin fans, a pigment program — and moves on its own boid mind. Nothing is a sprite, nothing is a loop. Corals bud while you watch, clownfish keep house in the anemones, and every so often a sea turtle or a squadron of jellyfish drifts through. Built for anyone who wants a living ocean in a browser tab.
On a wall display or dashboard (DAKboard, a smart mirror, a spare monitor)? Add ?kiosk to the address — reef-dive.html?kiosk — and it opens full-screen with no panel, no cursor, nothing to tap. Add a shared reef link on top to pin one exact reef: ?kiosk&s=…
Record the reef as an MP4 (or WebM in Firefox, which can't make MP4) or an animated GIF — in portrait, landscape or square. GIF is a 256-colour format from 1989, so the water will band and long clips get heavy; MP4 is the better keepsake. Share copies a link that grows this exact reef again from its seed.
Foundational code from Fable Showcase by elder-plinius.
Reef Dive is a free, browser-based virtual aquarium and fish tank simulator. Every fish is grown from a procedural species genome — a body spline, parametric fins, and a pigment program — and swims on its own boid AI. Corals bud while you watch, kelp answers a shared current, and sea turtles and jellyfish drift through. No account, no install.
Yes — completely free with no hidden limits, no account required, no watermarks, and no feature gates. It runs entirely in your browser.
Open the page and the reef grows itself. Click or tap the water to scatter food, click a fish to meet it by name, pick a dive site, and press N to grow a brand-new reef from a fresh seed. Press H to hide the panel for screensaver mode, and use the 4K button to save the view as a wallpaper. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
No. Everything runs locally in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing you do in the aquarium leaves your device — there are no servers, no uploads, and no tracking beyond basic anonymous page analytics.
No — every species is invented on the spot. Each new reef rolls forty unique genomes that define body shape, fin geometry, swim wave, schooling behavior, and a pigment program of stripes, spots, or countershading, then gives each a plausible Latin-style name. The clownfish in the anemones is the one familiar face. For real-world varieties, try Koi Pond.
SereneScreen Marine Aquarium is a classic paid screensaver with pre-modeled fish. Reef Dive is free, runs in any browser without installing anything, and generates its fish and reef procedurally — every seed is a different ecosystem. It also adds interaction: feeding, meeting fish, night dives, and 4K wallpaper export. For more generated water, see Other Oceans.
Yes. Press H to hide the panel and Reef Dive becomes a full-screen ambient aquarium — ideal for a spare monitor or a calm tab. It runs on phones and tablets with touch feeding, and the 4K export makes wallpapers sized to your screen. Pair it with Tone Shelf for a full ambience mix.
Reef Dive uses a boids flocking model: every fish steers by three local rules — separate from crowding neighbors, align with nearby schoolmates, and stay cohesive with the group — plus wander, current, food attraction, and predator fear. Schooling emerges from those rules; no path is scripted.