How to replace elements in a 2D array in Java? Okay so for my program, I am trying to create a fish tank. My program is to generate 4 different FISH: ><))'> in a tank of tilde (~) characters. The tank is a 2D array of 8 rows and 32 columns so it would look like ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ for one of the eight rows (before I generate the random positions of the fish in the rank). Then one row could look like ~~~~~~~~~~><))'>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ after I generate random positions for my fish. It should also hide characters of the fishes body if it is more to the left like such )'>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ where there is only three parts of the fish, 2 body characters and the head character.The random position coordinate I have generated for each of the four fishes starts on the head of the fish (>) which means I have been able to successfully generate four > in the tank, which looks like ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ when ran. But my problem is how I can get the rest of the fishes body after the head. I know I am going to be working backwards from the > character and replace the tilde characters with characters from the fishes body. Some steps that would explain it and some suggestions would be nice. I am just getting back into basic coding so a good explanation would be VERY HELPFUL since some "experts" on Chegg don't always see through the student's eyes. Here is some of the code below.

import java.util.Random;

public class Main {

public static void main(String[] args) {

char [][] tilde = new char [8][32];

fillTank(tilde, '~');

int fish [][] = generateRandomPositions(4, 8, 32);

for (int i = 0; i < fish.length; ++i) {

placeFishInTank(tilde, fish[i][0], fish[i][1]);

}

renderTank(tilde);

}

/**

* Copies the water character into every position in the tank array. The two-dimensional tank

* array can have dimensions of any size(s).

*

* @param tank will contain all water characters after this method is called.

* @param water is the character copied into the tank.

*/

public static void fillTank(char[][] tank, char water)

{

for (int row = 0; row < tank.length; ++row) {

for (int column = 0; column < tank[row].length; ++column) {

tank [row][column] = '~';

}

System.out.println();

}

}

public static void placeFishInTank(char [][] positionInTank, int x, int y)

{

positionInTank[x][y] = '>';

//THE REST IS POTENTIAL IDEAS OF HOW I WAS THINKING TO DO THIS.

//FIRST THOUGHTS

// fish [] = {>,<, ), ), \', >};

// for (int i = 0; i < positionInTank.length; i++) {

// for (int j = 0; i < positionInTank[x].length; j++)

// if (positionInTank[][] >= 0) {

// String.charAt(i, j);

// }

// }

//MY SECOND THOUGHT

//if (!positionInTank[row].length - 1 = 0) {

//add on next character '\''

// }

//if (!positionInTank[row] - 2 = 0) {

//add on next character ')'

// }

//if (!positionInTank[row] - 3 = 0) {

//add on next character ')'

// }

//if (!positionInTank[row] - 4 = 0) {

//add on next character '<'

// }

//if (!positionInTank[row] - 5 = 0) {

//add on next character '>'

// }

}