# tikzfins

Aquarium fish and aquascapes drawn with TikZ.

Version 0.3, 2026/11/04

`tikzfins` draws twenty-two aquarium fish in side profile, as flat vector
illustrations with counter-shading, translucent fins, fin rays and the
markings of the real species:

- reef: clownfish, blue tang, yellow tang, moorish idol, royal gramma,
  pufferfish, seahorse, lionfish, damselfish and a blacktip reef shark
- freshwater: goldfish, betta, guppy, neon tetra, swordtail, angelfish,
  discus, tiger barb, corydoras, bristlenose pleco, dwarf gourami and zebra
  danio

Their tank mates are snails (mystery, nerite, ramshorn), starfish (common,
chocolate chip, blue linckia), a cleaner shrimp, a hermit crab and a moon
jellyfish. Around them you can build a whole tank: an `aquarium` or
`fishbowl` environment with sand, gravel, aquasoil, pebbles or crushed coral,
rocks, driftwood, plants, corals, an anemone, a treasure chest, a castle and
bubbles.

Like its sibling `tikzeats`, it does not take itself too seriously. Any fish
can be eaten down to the bone, open its jaws wide to feed, flee in a
cold sweat, grow legs, get caught on a hook, blow bubbles, talk, wear a hat or
a snorkel, and swim in a school.

```latex
\usepackage{tikzfins}
...
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{aquarium}[width=12, height=6, substrate=soil]
  \vallisneria[at={(10.5,0.5)}, height=4.5, sway=5]
  \corydoras[at={(3,0.7)}, scale=0.4]
  \neontetra[at={(8,4)}, school=6, scale=0.35, facing=left]
  \goldfish[at={(2.5,3)}, scale=0.5, facing=left, bones=2, speed, sweat]
  \shark[at={(6.5,3.2)}, scale=0.45, facing=left, mouth=chomp]
\end{aquarium}
\end{tikzpicture}
```

The package needs only TikZ and works with pdfLaTeX, XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX.
It was inspired by `tikzducks`, `tikzlings` and `tikzpingus`, and can be
loaded alongside them and `tikzeats`. All figures are original drawings.

## Contents

- `tikzfins.sty`: the package
- `tikzfins-doc.tex`: source of the documentation
- `tikzfins-doc.pdf`: the documentation
- `README.md`: this file

## Licence

Copyright (C) 2026 Vernon Merrick Fanning

This work may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of the
LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3c of this license or (at
your option) any later version. The latest version of this license is in
https://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt and version 1.3c or later is part of
all distributions of LaTeX version 2008 or later.

This work has the LPPL maintenance status `maintained'.
The Current Maintainer of this work is Vernon Merrick Fanning.

This work consists of the files `tikzfins.sty`, `tikzfins-doc.tex` and
`README.md`, and the derived file `tikzfins-doc.pdf`.

All drawings in this work are original. They were made from scratch with TikZ
paths for this package; none is traced from or based on a photograph or on
anyone else's artwork.

## Author

Vernon Merrick Fanning