Fish Display - HELP!

[BustedHipGaming]

So I just built one and looked on the wiki, and the comments there make it sound like it is a waste of time to put fish in it because there's no way to be sure how to feed them, and they will just die.

Is there some guide to using the fish display? I want to use it but don't want to kill the fish. :)

[worstcase11]

Well it is possible to keep the fish alive or even breed them, it is just complicated and needs resources:

- 1 small tank can keep up to 5 fish and each would need 1 unit of food per day. If you only want them on display all you have to watch out for is their exact dietary requirements -specifics follow.

- you can feed fish either with
a) dough balls that you can make in the mixer from muckus and flour or buy at Sophia's farm
or with
b) bug eggs which are a loot of Mr. Ladybug (near Eastgate of Portia)

- fish come in form of carnivores or herbivores - well they all will bite on caterpillars but in the tank they are more picky

- Carnivores need the bug eggs (confirmed carnivores so far: blowfish, wise fish, goliath fish, blue mackarel, koi, frog fish, angler fish)

- Herbivores need the dough balls (confirmed herbivores: catfish, golden salmon, firefish, banner fish, blade fish)

- you can keep fish alive with the wrong food but they need much more of it and might die anyway still so have a stock on bug eggs prepared - as you can't buy them anywhere and Mr. Ladybug is not coming in huge flocks.

- if you want only display tanks I suggest making at least two - one for the herbivorous and one for the carnivorous fish, so their food doesn't get mixed up.

- if anything goes wrong with the feeding a 'hungry fish' symbol will appear over the tank. This is a warning that your fish are close to starvation meaning you are not feeding them enough or the wrong food. If you ignore this warning sign you will soon have to remove dead fish from your tank.

- to breed you need to put exactly two (2) fish of a kind into a small tank and feed them their preferred food. After a few days they will grow in size and take up 4 spaces in the tank - it is time to double their food intake to a total of 4 units per day then (2 each). The last of the 5 spaces will be occupied by their offspring a few days later - to continue breeding remove one fish to make space again in the tank.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1429216439

- breeding works the same in the big tanks, just with additional space for more fish at the same time and the joy of guessing how many fish are actually in there.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1429218549

- 2 emperor fish of the same kind will have an emperor fish as an offspring
- 2 normal fish of the same kind will have a normal fish offspring
- I have not tried breeding 1 emperor and 1 normal fish of a kind but I doubt it will work.

- breeding Emperor Goliath fish may sound lucrative but you have to go hunting for bug eggs nearly every day and fishing for them would seriously be a faster way getting them at the moment because their reproduction rate is incredibly slow.

(I put this together in a guide now. So it can be looked up in more detail there:)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1429227141

[Willemdb]

Originally posted by worstcase11:

Stuff...

That was really useful, thank you. I never realised the fish required different food types!

[AWAWA Liz]

I still think the drop rates of enemies is way off. How are you supposed to fulfill the needs of all those fish if Mr. Ladybugs drop one egg at a time (or NONE)? AND THE MUCUS!!! BAH!

Insanity.

[worstcase11]

Originally posted by l1z4rdbr34th:

I still think the drop rates of enemies is way off. How are you supposed to fulfill the needs of all those fish if Mr. Ladybugs drop one egg at a time (or NONE)? AND THE MUCUS!!! BAH!

Insanity.

Well at least dough balls you can buy prefabricated, even if you are low on muckus. But bug eggs are hell to collect, since Mr Ladybug doesn't exactly come in herds of 20+ every day :(
On a good day I might collect 8-10 bug eggs - while the chance for more monster loot is enabled in the skilltree.
That is just enough to keep 1 small tank for breeding or displaying carnivores alive and only having to go collecting their feed every odd day.

[BustedHipGaming]

Originally posted by worstcase11:

Awesome info that he turned into a guide at this link:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1429227141

Dude that is hella amazing work on your guide. +1 to you. Gave it an upvote and a fave.

[worstcase11]

Thanks :) I guess I will set up a tank with king salmon some time next to check what they eat.