# Water quality

_How clear your aquarium's water is, what keeps it clear, and what cloudy water costs you._

## What the water reading means

Every aquarium has a water reading from 0 to 100%: how many fish it can keep in clear water, against how many it holds. Every fish counts, eggs and lost fish included. Only the [legendary fish](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/legendary) are left out, because water never touches them.

The gauge under your level and coins shows the water as Clear, Good, Cloudy or Murky, when your filter next needs a service and how long your feeder's food will last. Open it to see the numbers behind them and your filter's health.

## What keeps water clear

Three things add up:

- The aquarium itself · 6 fish, with no help at all.
- Plants · every plant keeps a few more fish clear, and a plant that holds algae back longer also holds more water, up to 6 fish from all your plants together. Ornaments don't clean water; they slow [algae](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/cleaning) instead.
- A [filter](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/filters-and-feeders) · as many fish as its capacity while its cartridge is fresh. Your first Sponge Filter is a free [gift](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/next-goal).

## What cloudy water does

At 70% or more the water is fine: fish grow at full speed and care can take them all the way to gold. Below that:

- Growth slows, down to 60% of its normal speed at the worst.
- Below 70%, [gold quality](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/quality) is out of reach; below 50%, silver is too.
- Water never harms a fish's health and never stops growth outright.

## Clearing it up

When the gauge turns Cloudy, any of these helps:

- Service a worn filter, or upgrade to a bigger one.
- Add plants.
- Sell grown fish with the [Net](https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/net), and collect lost ones: a lost fish fouls the water until it's netted.

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In the game: https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/water · Fishies 0.8.12

This page is generated. Its text lives in [`locales/en-GB.json`](../../../locales/en-GB.json) under `wiki.topics.water`; correct it there.