Aqua Real 2 is my favorite underwater screensaver so far. It’s loaded with fish and features and there are absolutely no upsells.

The trial version of Aqua Real 2 is better than a lot of full version screensavers I’ve found. It actually allows you to change up the fish and change some of the settings. The full version is an amazing sight, with a full 29 fish species and 5 beautiful seascapes. Best of all, the graphics are smooth and very realistic. All the different fish move with their own unique motion and speed. It’s also great fun to watch the sharks come sauntering through every now and again!

The drawbacks are very minor. I noticed every now and again that fish will swim through each other, and the crashing waves sound files that are included are a little strange. However, these are minor issues as you can play your own mp3 files with this ocean screensaver.

Overall, this is one of the best fish screensavers you will ever find. It blows Aqua 3d out of the water (sorry for the pun) and easily gives Sim Aquarium 2 a run for its money. Unlike Sim Aquarium 2, Aqua Real 2 includes unlimited access to all future upgrades, extra fish and environments. At just $19.95 that’s a great deal!

The Good: Great animation, features and price.

The Bad: Strange sound choices.

The Ugly: As with other Formosoft products, terrible text on the checkout page.

Download the Aqua Real 2 Demo.

Visit aquarealscreensaver.com

Buy Aqua Real 2 Now. $19.95

Aqua Garden is one of the best aquarium screensavers I have seen in some time. Unlike other fish screensavers, this is truly an aquarium screensaver.

All the featured fish (35!) are freshwater fish, the kind you would find in pet stores and hobby aquariums across the country. The backgrounds do not pretend to be anything other than great looking home aquariums. The tank graphics look vibrant with bright green plants and fun multi-colored fish.

Aqua Garden has the usual Formosoft features like feeding and tickling the fish, but it also has a new “follow fish” setting.

Since Aqua Garden supports up to three monitors, the tanks are much wider than a single monitor. Essentially, if you watch the screensaver with a single monitor, you are only viewing a third of the total tank. To make this concept more appealing to people with only one monitor (most of us!), you can select a fish to follow as it swims through the entire fish tank. The background will simply scroll along behind the selected fish! Of course, you can also manually scroll from side to side manually.

The Aqua Garden screensaver is a breath of fresh air amidst the poorly constructed aquarium screensavers I find all over the net. I highly recommend this to any fan of aquariums, and also to anyone looking for a fresh screensaver to brighten their computer.

The Good: Bright and clean look.

The Bad: Fish occasionally swim through objects!

The Ugly: The writing on their sales page…

• Download the Aqua Garden Demo
• Visit aquagardenscreensaver.com
• Buy Aqua Garden Screensaver $19.95

Sim Aquarium 2 is a solid contender in the aquarium screensaver competition. It offers a nice range of environments and quite a few options including a bunch of hot key shortcuts to use while the screensaver is running.

It features a whopping 41 fish varieties and has ultra realistic looking coral reef environments. Sim Aquarium 2 does not offer any interactivity or desktop options, but it doesn’t need to. It does a great job being what it is: An Aquarium Screensaver!

Although all the screenshots on the Digital Illusions product page shows the surface of the water above the fish, there is an option to not show the surface within the control panel. I personally like not seeing the surface as it feels more like being deep within the ocean environment.

Fish animations are decent, but still lack a little in the smoothness department. The fish motions seem a little jerky at times, and at times the fish just seem to “coast” a little before moving again. These are minor issues and don’t detract too much from the overall experience. It can get a little distracting though.

The pricing of Sim Aquarium 2 is a little convoluted. There are two basic package versions, one with 26 fish (lite) and another with 41 fish (deluxe). On top of that, you must choose which tank(s) you want with your purchase. With all these choices, the price ranges from $18.45 for 26 fish and 1 tank, to $39.95 for 41 fish and all 5 tanks. Still with me? Looking at their purchase page I felt a little like I was shopping for Windows Vista or an Xbox 360: Why go with an limiting option when you really need the whole thing? Conclusion: The full version of Sim Aquarium 2 is a bit pricey at $39.95!

Aside from the minor issues in animation and the strange pricing strategy, this screensaver could work for someone who is looking for a simple and solid aquarium screensaver.

The Good: Simple and enjoyable.

The Bad: Slightly off fish animations.

The Ugly: Strange pricing options, too expensive.

• Download the Sim Aquarium 2 Demo.
• Visit simaquarium.com
• Buy Sim Aquarium 2 at SimAquarium.com $18.45 - $39.95

I really wanted to like this screensaver. My hopes were high because I often come across enthusiastic descriptions of Aqua 3D Screensaver on download sites. Unfortunately, I think the descriptions are a function of good marketing, not quality.

I am not sure about the full version (I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $14.95 after playing with the demo), but the demo comes with a measly 4 fish! From what I can tell from the DigiMinds site, the full version does not contain any extra fish.

The animation of the fish in Aqua 3D Screensaver is really terrible. The fish barely move their bodies as they swim, and they look like they are about to die or something. Quite sad.

This screensaver should be free at best. I really can’t recommend it to anyone looking for a decent aquarium screensaver.

The Good: Nothing.

The Bad: Poor selection of fish and customization options.

The Ugly: Everything else.

• If you must, download the demo.
• Visit the Digimind site.
• If you really must, buy it here. $14.95

Finally, there is a great dolphin screensaver available.

I only managed to get my hands on the demo version of this screensaver, so consider this a partial review.

The demo version, like other Digifish screensavers, is a limited version, but it never expires. Also, there are no nag screens or annoying reminders to register. Very nice for a demo. This particular dolpin screensaver demo allows only a single bottle nose dolphin on screen, but it is enough to get a feel for the screensaver and very enjoyable to watch.

The animations are smooth and the sound is suitable for an underwater screensaver. The dolphin swims elegantly through the water and the camera follows gracefully at different angles. Occasionally, the dolphin encounters beautiful schools of tropical fish.

The full version offers four varieties of dolphins, plus a bunch of deep sea fish to customize the whole experience. Overall, this looks like another quality product from Formosoft and it seems they have finally figured out that sound matters!

The Good: Great animations, sound.

The Bad: Nothing.

The Ugly: Cheesy text on the checkout page.

Download the Dolphin Demo.

Visit digifish.com/dolphin

Buy Dolphin Screensaver Now. $19.95