If I had a nickel for every time I've reported on a cute aquarium app designed to run entirely off an ESP32 CYD, I'd have two nickels. It's not a lot, but unlike how the meme goes, I don't think it's weird that it happened twice; in fact, I love it.

It has only been a few weeks since we saw the ASCII Aquarium, a cute little project that brought digital fish to your CYD. Now, someone else has released their own app, and this one uses pixel graphics instead.

The ESP32 CYD Aquarium brings pixellated fish to your device

It'll also show you the time

Over on the ESP32 subreddit, GitHub user Lagerpun showed off their cool pixel aquarium. It runs entirely off the ESP32-2432S028, which is more affectionately known as the Cheap Yellow Display, or CYD. The CYD combines the microprocessor with a display to run things on, and as you'd guess by its name, it's very affordable.

The CYD's main strength is that you can throw apps on it and let it run without much setup, something that the ESP32 CYD Aquarium takes advantage of:

It turns one of these small 2.8 inch ESP32 touchscreens into a self-running desk aquarium: moving water, a handful of small creatures, plants, drifting food, and a 12-hour clock. Give it Wi-Fi and it syncs the time over NTP; leave Wi-Fi out and it still runs fine on its own. It also dims its own backlight using the light sensor already on the board.

If you'd like to get this cute program on your own CYD, head over to the project's GitHub page to find the code, instructions, and a full list of features.