asciiquarium
Display an ASCII art aquarium animation
TLDR
Start asciiquarium
Pipe the output through lolcat for rainbow colors
Toggle [p]ause
[r]edraw aquarium and all entities
Exit asciiquarium
SYNOPSIS
asciiquarium [-c|--colors] [--help] [--man] [--version]
PARAMETERS
-c, --colors
Enable colored output for fish and background (requires 256-color terminal)
--help
Display brief help message and exit
--man
Display full manual page and exit
--version
Display version information and exit
DESCRIPTION
Asciiquarium is a delightful Perl-based terminal application that simulates a lively underwater aquarium using ASCII art. Watch colorful fish, seahorses, and other sea creatures swim gracefully across your screen, creating a mesmerizing screensaver effect right in the command line.
Powered by the Term::Animation library, it animates dozens of predefined sprites in real-time, handling collisions and smooth movement without flickering. Launch it during breaks or to impress friends with terminal eye-candy. It runs indefinitely until interrupted with Ctrl+C.
Ideal for Linux enthusiasts, it showcases the creative potential of text-based interfaces. Supports color modes for vibrant displays in modern terminals. No graphical dependencies—purely terminal magic!
Perfect for idle workstations or adding whimsy to servers. Fish species include angelfish, clownfish, sharks, and more, with randomized behaviors for endless variety.
CAVEATS
Requires Perl modules: Term::Animation, Getopt::Long, Term::ExtendedColor. May not animate smoothly in low-refresh-rate terminals. Colors need 256-color support (e.g., xterm-256color). High CPU usage on slow hardware.
INSTALLATION
Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install asciiquarium
Fedora: sudo dnf install asciiquarium
CPAN: cpan App::Asciiquarium
CUSTOMIZATION
Sprites defined in /usr/share/asciiquarium/fish.txt; edit for custom creatures. Resize terminal for different aquarium sizes.
HISTORY
Created by Robert Krimen (rjk) in 2007 as App::Asciiquarium on CPAN. Inspired by ASCII animations; gained popularity via repositories like Debian (since 2010). Maintained sporadically with minor updates for modern Perls.
