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Planet Zoo 2 Deep Water and Aquatic Space Requirements

What the data calls deep water

Each species page in the Zoopedia can carry two water figures. One is a minimum deep swimming space, shown on this site as deep water. The other is a minimum aquatic space. Both come as a value for the first animal plus a value for each additional animal, in the same way as land.

If you are looking for a "deep water surface area" figure, these are the numbers to use. The Zoopedia gives a single area per animal for deep water and no separate depth value, so this guide compares the numbers as listed and does not guess how the game measures them.

Which species list deep water

42 species have a deep water figure. That covers every one of the 21 aquarium species and all 16 species that can go in an aquarium or an exhibit. The remaining 5 are terrestrial habitat animals: African Penguin, Asian Small-Clawed Otter, Eurasian Beaver, Gharial, and Saltwater Crocodile. No flying habitat animal lists deep water.

By class, 35 of the 42 are fish (29 ray-finned, 6 sharks and rays), with 3 mammals, 3 reptiles and 1 bird making up the rest.

Deep water in a land habitat

The 5 habitat animals with deep water also list land and aquatic space, so a habitat for any of them has three area figures to meet. For four of the five, deep water is the smallest of the three for the first animal. The Gharial is the exception: its land figure of 110 m² is its smallest, and its aquatic figure of 300 m² its largest.

The table gives first-animal figures. For a full group, multiply out each column with the per-animal values on the species page, or let the habitat planner do it.

Largest deep water minimums

The Great Hammerhead needs 960 m² for one animal, more than twice the next species on the list. 4 of the top ten are sharks or rays. The Gharial is the only habitat animal in the top ten.

Smallest deep water minimums

Blackspotted Puffer, Clown Triggerfish, and Red Lionfish share the lowest first-animal figure at 16 m². The West Indian Manatee comes next with 20 m², though it also lists a much larger aquatic minimum, covered further down.

Many fish share identical values: 20 of the 35 fish use one of two sets of numbers. 14 species have 50 m² for the first animal and 15 m² for each extra one, and 13 of those can also go in an exhibit. Another 6 share 100 m² plus 30 m². The median first-animal figure across all 42 species is 50 m².

One value looks unusual: the Blackspotted Puffer lists 16 m² for the first animal but 40 m² for each additional one, so its group of 4 needs 136 m². It is the only species where the extra-animal figure is larger. Clown Triggerfish, Giant Grouper, Red Lionfish, and Sailfin Snapper list the same amount for every animal.

Deep water for a full group

Group size reorders the ranking. The Sand Tiger Shark moves to the top with 1,620 m² for 6 animals, while the hammerhead, capped at 2, needs 1,200 m². The African Penguin ranks fourth here because its page allows a group of 500, even though each extra bird adds only 2 m².

Aquatic space: the other water figure

19 species list aquatic space: 16 terrestrial habitat animals, 2 flying ones (Eurasian Bittern and Greater Flamingo) and the manatee, the only aquarium species with an aquatic figure. 13 of the 19 list aquatic space but no deep water, among them both elephants, the Eurasian Brown Bear, Grizzly Bear, and Sun Bear.

The Common Hippopotamus has by far the largest aquatic figure at 502 m² for one animal and 7,781 m² for a group of 30. Its land and aquatic figures are identical, which no other species in the data shares.

Aquatic and deep water side by side

Only 6 species list both figures, which makes this the one place to compare them directly. For the first animal, the aquatic minimum is larger in every case, from 1.33 times the deep water figure for the Asian Small-Clawed Otter to 7.5 times for the West Indian Manatee.

The per-animal increments do not follow the same pattern. The Gharial adds 52 m² of deep water per extra animal against 30 m² of aquatic space, and the penguin adds 2 m² of each. Even so, at full group size the aquatic total stays above the deep water total for all six.

Example: a thriving reef aquarium

Humphead Wrasse, Indo-Pacific Leopard Shark, Javanese Cownose Ray, and Ocellated Eagle Ray are listed as thriving with each other, all six pairings. Their temperature ranges overlap at 24 to 27 °C. Adding each species' deep water gives the totals below, from the smallest group each page allows up to the largest.

The Ocellated Eagle Ray accounts for the biggest share of the full-group figure. The Zoopedia lists each species separately and does not say how the game combines them in one tank, so read the added-up row as a planning figure. The habitat planner shows both the sum and the largest single requirement for any mix you enter, and animals that go together lists every other reef pairing.

The deep water and aquatic values above are the official Zoopedia's (checked 2026-10-14); the rankings, ratios and sums were calculated here. See how the data is collected for the steps.