Favourite fish for farming?

[farmer-ys]

What type of fish is your favourite for keeping in your fish pond(s)?
Edit: some people thought I was asking what fish *I* shoukd put in my ponds, but I am interested to hear from everyone what fish *you* like to keep and why.

 

[nicodeux]

It all depends on what is the purpose of your fish ponds. Some fishes produce roe that can sell to good value, though ground space usage per gold income will be lower that what you would get with many crops for the same 5x5 space.
Some fishes produce items that are usefull and will keep you from running through the valley to get them.
Some fishes are useful as ingredients: I often have ponds on my farm that allow me to cook sea foam puddings.
Some fishes are nice either because they change fish pond waters to a fun colour or simply because you like them for what they are.
Some fishes are better than others for roleplay reasons, if you've decided to give some background to your farmer...

So... tell us why you want a fish pond and then, it could be possible to advice you with which fish to put in.

 

[DragonGwen]

I don't really fish on my farm so I'm usually a forest farm (yes I haven't done wilderness)
Edit: thought this was about the type of farm to fish on not fish ponds lol

 

[PoppyForPenny]

I choose fish for ponds based on what they give. The fish pond page of the wiki has the full list.
If you need it for the theater, sturgeon roe goes into a preserves jar to make caviar. Other fish roe just makes aged roe.
Once you fill a crab pond all the way, you get a special reward, a pearl. So both sturgeon and crabs are good short term fish ponds. I empty them back out after I get the caviar / pearl.
Blobfish can also give a pearl, and rainbow trout can give a prismatic shard!
Each fish gives something cute that relates to their little personality, and the items they request are related, too. Woodskip gives wood, hardwood, acorns. Ice pip give iron ore, frozen geodes, frozen tears, sometimes diamonds. Some fish give totems, gems, seeds, even trash!
The full list is here on the fish pond page of the wiki, under the Produce tab https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Fish_Pond

 

[imnvs]

For the loot:
Ice Pip
Lava Eel
Blobfish
Midnight Squid

For fishing them from the pond:
Eel
Flounder
Midnight Carp

 

[FilthyGorilla]

I’ve actually been farming mussels lately to try and get a lot of seaweed. They have some pretty random wants though.

 

[farmer-ys]

So... tell us why you want a fish pond and then, it could be possible to advice you with which fish to put in.

I was more just interested in what other people did with them than trying to figure out how I could use them.

I already have a few ponds that I am using for lava eels, sturgeons, crabs and blobfish, but I was curious about how other people used them to their benefit.

I am thinking once I have impressed Willy with my crabs, I might put a midnight squid in there, and I would like to replace the blobfish with octopi when summer rolls back arouns.

 

[LRangerR]

I like to keep snails, because it makes me laugh when they jump out of the water.

Also crabs, except I just like crabs. I enjoy it when they clean their tank and give me a stick, I'm just like "thanks buddy."

For practical fishkeeping though, there's obv sturgeon and lava eels, but I also like to keep an octopus for the occasional omni geode.

For cooking, I'll keep whatever makes a good gift for someone. Yes, I know, it's kinda a waste of ingredients, but one of these days I will finish my personal challenge of gifting every villager one of every item. Someday.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I like the ones that change their Pond color for themed areas on a farm or a whole themed farm. So:

Void Salmon
Lava Eel
Slimejack

But I also like to Fish, especially for the various Legends so fixin's for Seafoam Pudding are required:

Flounder
Midnight Carp
Midnight Squid

I don't really do anything for the loot other than the Midnight Squid, as by the time I've built that many Ponds I don't want or need anything more. However it's a pretty nice thing to see a Pond occasionally produce something special so that Lava Eel is nice as is the Ice Pip, but the rates are so low for most special items in most Ponds that I'd rather just have a giant field of grass for my animals to feed themselves. I want my animals to enjoy the satisfaction of self-sufficiency and they don't need to hear those chatty Fish taunting them just because they somehow figured out how to speak.

 

[ArtifactSpot]

I’ve actually been farming mussels lately to try and get a lot of seaweed. They have some pretty random wants though.

Wow I never thought of that before. A mussel pond. I have hundreds of mussels from ginger island but don’t have a real use as I no longer need sashimi.

As I side note when I married Elliot once I had a midnight squid pond for the squid ink as it’s a loved gift of his. But everyone else seems to dislike it so don’t plan on it being a gift for others. You can also use it combined with midnight carp and flounder to make sea foam pudding for harder to catch fish.

I’ve seen other people have ponds that turn pretty colors but mine never do. Even using the right fish. Must be a mobile glitch.

 

[mccollough]

What type of fish is your favourite for keeping in your fish pond(s)?
Edit: some people thought I was asking what fish *I* shoukd put in my ponds, but I am interested to hear from everyone what fish *you* like to keep and why.

I like to have fish ponds for recipes. I think there are 19 different fish that can be used in cooking and then I have one for Sturgeon to get the Caviar

 

[nicodeux]

I’ve seen other people have ponds that turn pretty colors but mine never do. Even using the right fish. Must be a mobile glitch.

I play on mobile (iOS) and I have no issue with fish ponds to change colour when having the right kind of fish. What fish are you trying to use? Note that you need to raise the amount of fishes in the pond to a certain number before the colour changes.

 

[Brave Little Sapling]

On my most recent farm I have a pond for Sturgeon for their Roe to make Caviar, Lava Eels for the chance to get Spicy Eel, Super Cucumbers because they make the water purple and have a chance to give you a little bit of Iridium Ore (ngl, the main reason I wanted them was for the pretty water), Blue Discus for the chance to get Golden Coconuts (and because I think they're the cutest fish), and Spook Fish for the chance to get Treasure Chests though I'm confident my pond hasn't yet produced one after years of providing a place to thrive for 10 of the little buggers!

 

[nicodeux]

On my most recent farm I have a pond for Sturgeon for their Roe to make Caviar, Lava Eels for the chance to get Spicy Eel, Super Cucumbers because they make the water purple and have a chance to give you a little bit of Iridium Ore (ngl, the main reason I wanted them was for the pretty water)

You need at least 3 lava eels or 3 super cucumbers in the fish pond for the waters to change colour. Maybe you did not reach that level?

 

[Brave Little Sapling]

You need at least 3 lava eels or 3 super cucumbers in the fish pond for the waters to change colour. Maybe you did not reach that level?

Lol I have 10 of each in all my ponds. I believe it was a different person in the thread who was having color-change problems; I was replying to the thread in general.

 

[MogBeoulve]

I always, always build a rainbow trout pond; I've gotten two prismatic shards so far. That's enough to keep me hooked on them.

Other than that, I like octopus for the omni geodes (I wanted that magic turban) and for a while I had a stonefish pond exclusively to build up stone reserves. I can't recall what I was needing so much stone for, but I was getting annoyed at running out! It wasn't very efficient, but it was a passive way to accumulate it.

 

[Ereo]

I’m trying to fill a farm with all fish ponds (although I’m not sure they all fit) and the first ones I built were for crab pond catches because they have a chance to produce algae or sea weed.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Wow I never thought of that before. A mussel pond. I have hundreds of mussels from ginger island but don’t have a real use as I no longer need sashimi.

As I side note when I married Elliot once I had a midnight squid pond for the squid ink as it’s a loved gift of his. But everyone else seems to dislike it so don’t plan on it being a gift for others. You can also use it combined with midnight carp and flounder to make sea foam pudding for harder to catch fish.

I’ve seen other people have ponds that turn pretty colors but mine never do. Even using the right fish. Must be a mobile glitch.

Works fine on mobile for me, they just have to have higher population counts and then wait a day.

 

[Aspen Way Dragons]

Can you only catch all of the fish that you put in a pond or all ten of them? If the second option, you can get unlimited fish just from the ponds!

 

[imnvs]

But I also like to Fish, especially for the various Legends so fixin's for Seafoam Pudding are required:

Flounder
Midnight Carp
Midnight Squid

Uh... don't need the Midnight Carp for this.