Stardew Valley: A Complete Guide To Fish Ponds

Quick Links

• Building A Fish Pond
• Raising Fish In A Pond
• Removing/Changing The Fish In The Pond
• Pond Decorations

As you work your way up in Stardew Valley, you begin to consider building things you might have overlooked before. New buildings from Robin allow you to create Artisan Goods, have your very own horse, and more! The Fish Pond is something that's, honestly, not terribly expensive — players might overlook it because they're so preoccupied with just managing their first patch of crops and a few chickens.

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Slowly, however, you'll gain access to items that automize much of the farming process and you'll eventually have enough time to investigate and build in these new contraptions. If you're new to the world of Fish Ponds, thhere's no need to worry! This guide has all the information you'll need and more.

Building A Fish Pond

You can build a Fish Pond by talking to Robin at her shop in the mountains.

Building Materials Required:

• 5,000g
• 200 Stone
• 5 Seaweed
• 5 Green Algae

It'll take up a 5×5 space on your farm, so make sure you've cleared enough room before going to visit Robin! She'll take two days to build it.

Raising Fish In A Pond

Once your fish pond has been completed, add fish by approaching with the fish in hand and interacting with it. After that, interacting with the pond will bring up its menu and show you how many fish live there, what the maximum number of fish is, and how happy they are.

Fish live in the pond and slowly reproduce, creating more fish! All fish can live in a Fish Pond, with a few exceptions:

• Legend
• Legend II
• Mutant Carp
• Radioactive Carp
• Crimsonfish
• Son of Crimsonfish
• Glacierfish
• Glacierfish Jr.
• Angler
• Ms. Angler
• Clam

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Quests

Every so often, the fish in your Fish Ponds will give you a quest, noted by an exclamation mark symbol over the pond. Quests will only spawn when a Fish Pond is at maximum capacity. The fish will ask you to bring them a particular item or items. These may be easy to locate, like Acorns, Coal, or White Algae, or they may be rarer, such as Dried Starfish, Diamonds, or Dwarf Scrolls.

Unfortunately, there's no way to change the item once it's been determined. Reloading, fishing a fish out and letting the pond repopulate, and all other methods have always returned the same item request.

By completing quests for the fish, you'll be able to increase the maximum number of fish in the pond, up to a maximum of 10 fish. The only exception to this rule is the Tiger Trout, which does not reproduce. You'll be able to add 10 Tiger Trout from the start.

Production

Fish produce items overtime in the chum bucket on the edge of the pond. Most fish produce Roe, but certain species have a small chance of producing other items as well! You may need to have a certain fish population to get them, however.

Aging Roe In Preserves Jars

Roe, which fish produce more than any other item, can be preserved and turned into Aged Roe (or Caviar, if the Roe is from a Sturgeon) — an Artisan Good that sells for a much higher price! To create them, just make a Preserves Jar and interact with it while holding the Roe; it'll be taken out of your inventory to process.

• Aged Roe must be processed for 4,000 minutes (3-4 days)
• Caviar must be processed for 6,000 minutes (5-6 days)

The price of Roe and Aged Roe depends on the fish's base price. Roe sells for 60g + the fish's base price. Aged Roe sells for 2 x Roe Price. Caviar sells for a flat 500g. The prices of Caviar and Aged Roe are increased by 40% if you have the Artisan Profession, as well.

Removing/Changing The Fish In The Pond

To take fish out of your pond, all you need is your trusty fishing rod. Just cast into it and wait for one of your pets to bite! It's a reliable way to have a sustainable supply of certain rarer populations — though certain fish reproduce slower than others. The quickest that fish reproduce is every day and the slowest is every four days.

If you want to switch the species of your Fish Pond, you'll need to empty it, first. You can do this by interacting with the pond and clicking the appropriate button on the right-hand side. However, you should catch all the fish that are currently in the pond. Emptying it through the menu will not catch them for you and they'll be deleted from the game. Once you've caught them all, you still need to interact with the menu and click "Empty Pond" to set the pond back to neutral. Otherwise, it won't let you put any fish in there unless they are the same species as before.

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Pond Decorations

There are three ways you can consider decorating your pond.

First, and most basic, you can interact with the pond after adding at least one fish. On the right-hand side, there's a button that allows you to toggle the pond-side decorations between a few key designs.

Second, you can add any sign (including a Sign Of The Vessel) on the left-hand corner of the pond. Once there, the sign will display the type of fish and the number currently in the pond.

Finally, four fish are capable of changing the colour of the water in the Fish Pond! Lava Eels turn the water red once you've completed their first quest. The other fish change the water's colour once their population reaches 3; Super Cucumbers turn the water light purple, Void Salmons change it to be dark purple, and Slimejacks make it green!

NEXT: Stardew Valley: Should You Choose Mushrooms Or Bats?

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