The Ultimate Insaniquarium Challenge Mode Guide

An all intesive guide on how to quickly and easily get all of the stories and earn the golden trophy, without cheating.

Introduction - The Basics

So, you've just completed adventure mode and you finally get to see what this challenge mode thing is all about. No doubt you start the first tank, and for the the first time ever, rage quit after failing numerous times.

This guide will whip you into shape, so that you rarely fail a tank, and evenentually, complete challenge mode!

The Goal

In challenge mode, by completing a tank you unlock stories. These stories are about the various aliens, and pets in the game. Each tank has several stories you can unlock from it,

Tank 1 - Stinky, Niko, Itchy, Prego, Zorf, Brinkly, Sylvester, Balrog

Tank 2 - Clyde, Vert, Rufas, Meryl, Wadsworth, Nostradamus, Gus, Destructor

Tank 3 - Seymore, Sharpnel, Gumbo, Blip, Rhubarb, Stanely, Ulysses, Psychosquid

Tank 4 - Nimbus, Amp, Gash, Angie, Presto, Walter, Bilaterus, Mini Sylvester, and (when you have every other story) Cryax


Unlock every story, including Cryax's, and you will receive the golden trophy.


The gold trophy, besides looking sweet in your menu, will allow you to have 4 more extra pets in the Virtual Tank!

General Strategy

As you complete these tanks, you should be devoting all the money you earn to buying the four bonus pets. Not only will you need to own these pets to unlock every story, but you will also need them to buy the four pet limit, which will make the game even easier (as described in the final section of this tutorial).

It's a good idea to change presto into Gash when aliens arrive (assuming you have more than one guppy). Or Stanely if you own him, and the alien is a type-U.

Tank 1

In tank 1, it's best to use the guppy electricution strategy.

For your pets, use Amp, Angie, and Presto.


Once you have started, turn presto into Sharpnel. Only feed one guppy, until the other one starves, alternating between the two. Continue this long enough to get a nice amount of money from Sharpnel. When Amp first charges, use him immedietly. Angie should revive the two guppies, and now you'll have three. Start feeding your guppies enough so that one grows to a medium guppy. As soon as Amp has charged again, buy as many guppies as you can afford. Continue to repeat this process, and eventually it will time out and open up all the other options in the shop. Upgrade to three food pellets at a time, and get the best type of fish food.

Afterwords, continue the previous strategy, now allowing your guppies to grow into adults. Keep saving up, and enjoy your eggshells. (:

Tank 2

Not much explanation is needed for this tank. Use the the same pets and strategy as on Tank 1, but start giving your fish star potions and buying starcatchers until you have a stable income. Then start buying egg pieces. Once again, enjoy your fast win.

Tank 3

For this tank, you can use the same strategy as in Tank 2, or you can use Prego, Presto, and Sharpnel. Turn presto into Sharpnel, then start making money, take as long as you can to unlock the other items in the storebar, then buy As many guppycrunchers and beetlemunchers as you can (1 for 1).

Now watch as you make a nice stable income. Start buying eggshells.

Tank 4

For this tank, use Amp, Angie, and Presto.

Start by turning Presto into sharpnel. It's alright to let the breeders grow, as this will only unlock the option to buy more breeders. Once you have unlocked the option to buy more breeders, start buying as many as you can afford without going under 200 (If you do, you won't be able to afford to feed them, and they will all starve).

Use amp when you can, and buy the best type of food and the 3 pellets option as soon as the rest of the options time out and open up. If you are under 7000 shells, you should probably just go ahead and buy a few carnivores.

Once you have saved up enough for an ultravore, buy it. Allow it to eat all of your carnivores and only buy a new one when the ultrivore turns green from hunger. Keep buying ultravores when you've saved up enough for one, until you have a total of three. Next, start saving up for an egg shell peice.

If an alien eats one of your ultravores, don't bother buying a new one until after you've bought the first egg peice. Once you have bought the first egg peice, go ahead and get another ultravore or two so you have a total of 4.

Soon you should be enjoying your entire egg, and a 20K shells for your VT!

Once you've reached the four pet limit

Once you've bought the four pet limit, you'll want to invoke a change in your strategy.
This will allow for even faster and easier wins.

You should follow the above guides for each respective tank, but instead of the pets they tell you, to use, use Walter, Angie, Amp, and presto.

Turn presto into sharpnel and walter when he gets near amp. Punch amp at every chance you get, and electrocute your guppies immedietly afterwords.

Once you've timed out, and have all the shop options, turn presto into walter permanently, and punch whatever non-guppies are near by. This strategy works so well, that sometimes you'll need to use Blip on tank 1, because you collect enough for 3 eggshells, before the shopbar times out!

Enjoy your trophy!

[Ingrid]

my strats for challenge tank 4 is to just use presto, rufus and nostradamus (3 pet slots) and on a lucky day let me finish the tank in 13 minutes

[Lau]

i used gumbo, presto, shrapnel and walter (after unlocking the 4 pet slots) to beat challenge mode. worked like a charm.

[JavaBaklava]

You're not playing Insaniquarium properly until your computer chugs from buying too many breeders on Tank 4 challenge.

[Aarlon]

Simple, don't use Gumbo; he's not worth it. Playing defensively like you are will never work, because the longer you take to win, the more the difficulty will ramp up.

Using aggressive strategies I laid out like the shrapnel / walter combo, or the amp / walter combo are better, because with those you'll never have to deal with more than a couple squids if you play efficiently enough.

[BlooBewwiShwimp]

I have the 4 pet limit but still struggle with tank 3 while using Gumbo, Shrapnel, Gash and Presto(who I change between Shrapnel and Gash as well) Mostly when the multiple Psychosquids show up and Gumbo doesn't keep my guppies safe by taking them to the bottom. What should I do?

[Detective Max]

pog

[Detective Max]

Zippy epic wizard wars

[Sgt. lollipop]

thank you

[Aarlon]

there's a decent room for error, i recorded me doing each tank and despite flubbing 3 and 4 pretty badly, I still was able to beat them all in one try using the basic strategy of the guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX_YV8DNhMI

[Sgt. lollipop]

are you gonna be able to make a video demonstration or should i just trial and error the guide?