Fish tanks...is there any point in having them??

[deanbarrett1]

I've built a large fish tank, filled it with fish and they all died. Yet if you keep them in your chests they stay fresh forever so is there any point in having them other than display purposes?

[Rue]

I think I saw somewhere that you can breed them. Not sure about that.

Mine just eat a bunch of bug eggs and dough and swim around. Too much maintenance for a decoration. Pretty silly.

[deanbarrett1]

I agree Rue, at the moment they seem like a waste of time and resources so I've not refilled it since my last lot died.

[dtt.scanner]

I think the fish tanks and health of the fish really needs to be worked on... It may be a low priority because people are focusing attention on so many other things. My personal belief is that fish are intended to be bred and harvested like other farm animals. It seems too difficult at this point to get any real use out of it. It requires too much attention and the rules for taking care of them seem really unclear. I haven't seen anyone successfully breed a new generation of fish for harvesting purposes, but that may be because the requirements are so fuzzy.

The tanks may just be a kind of "trophy display," but if that were the only purpose then you should be able to put fish in and forget about them... just have them to admire as you walk by. I have to believe that they can serve another purpose, and hence the difficulty. If they are just a pet, then they are by far the most difficult pet to maintain.

[deanbarrett1]

Yeah dtt, I think I saw someone else post somethiing about breeding them but how you do it I have no idea.
It probably is something they still need to work on, much like the farming aspect. I know they intend to do an overall on that side of the game to make it more worthwhile so maybe it's coming, fingers crossed.

[Surreal]

If they want me to EVER have a breeding fish tank (farm?) it better damn well be automated. I have enough crap to look after and theres someone that sells the fish required in most cooking recipes.

Fish Tank - Display, no maintence or food or anything
Fish Farm - Has an auto feeder, you put the food in once in awhile, it does the rest, you see more fish and can take em out for whatever nefarious schemes require a fish.

EDIT: If they want me to have a Fish Tank/Farm cleaning interaction, fine, ill do that once a week or something (or give me the design for a Filter!).

While im at it, id also like a butter churn. Ack can do that whenever I get him as my personalized laborer.

[NotCursa]

I breed fish in the fish tank, you put two of the same fish in there and they spawn another one in a couple of days (I think once a week or so). Mind you, they have to grow and whenever you take out a fish, it's always a grown one.
So really, it's very time and resources consuming and not profitable at all (yet?). Don't do it if you're trying to get fish, just go fishing, it's easier, faster and you don't lose money.
I just like the huge thing in my yard because I'm a narcissist.

[dtt.scanner]

Thanks for that confirmation, Abricota! I'm really glad you had the patience to succeed.

I think that feeding the fish is something that your spouse will do (and do correctly) if you put the fish food in the helper chest. So in that respect after you get married or have Ack as a helper, the fish tanks may be semi-automated (even if still a lengthy process). If you match two emperor fish, with the spawn always be an emperor fish? That might make the fish tanks worthwhile, especially with the commissions on Emperor Goliath and Emperor Mackeral reaching upwards of 2000 gols each.

[deanbarrett1]

Yaeh dtt that would make it more worthwhile if they do spawn Emporer versions. It would still depend on how much food they actually need. At the mo it still takes time to get the caterpillers and eggs and if they eat through it too quickly you would probably waste a lot of time running around trying to get them...Although I suppose you can buy the caterpillers from Sophies Farm shop.

[worstcase11]

The spawn of two emperor fish is always an emperor fish indeed.
The small tank can normally hold 5-6 fish but if you use it for breeding the fish grow and the maximum number sinks to 3, so one needs to be removed before a new one will spawn.
The big tank is a bit more efficient that way.

There are two sorts of food - bug eggs (loot from Mr Ladybug) for carnivorous fish, dough (mixer recepy or Sophia's farm) for herbivores.
Grown fish need 2 units food a day. If you feed them the wrong of the two foods (depending on fish type) they need more food and might even starve. They will also not reproduce when fed with the wrong food type.
The 'feed the fish sign' showing over the tank means something has gone wrong with their diet and they are close to starving. Check the tank for new fish first, if there are none change the food.

[dtt.scanner]

I habitually pick every herb and berry that I pass by (I gift them to nearly everyone for the extra point per day... it adds up), so worms are not a problem for me. ladybugs are a little out of the way, but now with horses not difficult to hunt every few days for extra eggs if needed. Again, it depends on the return on your time invested. Having a tankful of emperor fish would be worthwhile... and if you keep the tank down to 4 fish (harvest the extras into a chest, when they are ready and a replacement spawns) then it shouldn't take a lot of food per day and they should reproduce at a decent rate. You would want a tank for each specific fish type, so once you figure out which food it likes you can set up a chest at that tank with the appropriate food in it.

Thanks for the info on the feeding. Do the spawns only eat one food each? I'm told that you can kill them by overfeeding as well as underfeeding.

I think I'm going to add all of this info to my fishing guide. You guys are great!

[worstcase11]

@dtt.scanner: Overfeeding is no longer an issue anymore.

The spawns can get along with 1 food item for a while until they grow up too. I need to do some testing on the tank capacities yet though, to see if they can grow up in a small tank with the poarent fish present.

[deanbarrett1]

Mmmm , all good info guys, think I'll give it a another go myself now that I've actually managed to catch loads of fish with the new system.

[worstcase11]

I think it is specially useful for firefish - which I haven't been able to find/catch myself yet and only bought at the winter solstice food stall - and emperor fish which have a low chance of being caught.
Emperor Blue Mackrel are a nightmare to breed though, one can barely see them in the tank and keeping them in the huge tank is not adviseable because one never knows how much food to put in - trying to count them is a futile effort. (They go with bug eggs, if I remember right).

[deanbarrett1]

Oh yeah I bought five of them at the last Hotpot and kept them. Was a good idea if you can't catch them yet.

[worstcase11]

I haven't checked for fishing spots in the new area yet - I started over a new game to see what was different. But I hope if anyone finds out where to catch them they'll share the news.
I'll get busy trying to get datadiscs for a new fishtank blueprint in the meantime ^^'
Though once the animal feeding bug is patched I might reload one of the older savegames.