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

VR Aquarium is like an old friend. It is not the most exciting or fresh screensaver out there, but I always come back to it.

VRA is really more of a game than a traditional screensaver. You get the most out of it when you interact and play around with all the fun features.

It is refreshing to see an aquarium screensaver that does not take itself too seriously. The animation is a little outdated and cartoonish, but it more than makes up for it with it’s interactive elements. In fact, this screensaver is ideal for younger children as they can play with the fish and relate to them better.

One of the better features is the “construction yard” where you build your own tank. You set it up with plants, ornaments and fish. You can save multiple tanks and come back to edit them any time you like.

Of course, as with all Formosoft products, there is the ability to feed and tickle the fish. VR Aquarium offers multiple foods to feed the fish, including the strange pizza option (?).

I would highly recommend this screensaver to families with younger children. However, if you prefer a casual screensaver with some neat interactive features, you should definitely check out the demo!

The Good: Lots of interactive features.
The Bad: Feels a tad outdated.
The Ugly: Horrible text on their sales page, it reads like a child wrote it.

• No Demo Available
• Visit VRaquarium.com.
• Support this site: Buy VR Aquarium here! $21.95

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