Better Fishtanks
Most Minecraft aquariums are just glass boxes filled with water and a couple of tropical fish swimming in circles. Better Fishtanks takes that tired formula and turns it into a genuine fish-keeping system. Instead of static decoration, you get living tanks where fish eat, grow, and produce valuable eggs you can crack open for loot. It is the aquarium overhaul the base game never delivered, and once you try it, going back to plain glass blocks feels impossible.
What Makes These Tanks Different
Your standard Minecraft fishtank is purely cosmetic. Better Fishtanks flips that idea on its head by making aquariums functional. Fish kept inside need food to survive, but in return they passively generate fish eggs across six rarity tiers: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Exotic, and Legendary. Crack those eggs open at the Aquarist Table and you can pull out resources worth far more than the effort of feeding your fish.
If survival mechanics are not your thing, the config lets you disable the feeding system entirely. Turn off Require Food and you get a low-maintenance, purely aesthetic aquarium. The choice is yours, and that flexibility is exactly why so many players keep this add-on installed.
Supported Versions and Loaders
Better Fishtanks is built for modern Minecraft, targeting current 1.20.x and 1.21.x releases on both Fabric and NeoForge. Version compatibility matters here because the mod leans on newer rendering and fluid systems, so always match the build to your loader before adding it to an existing world.
Core Features at a Glance
- Functional Aquariums: Fish eat, survive, and produce eggs that convert into loot.
- Aquarist Table: The central crafting station for food, decorations, and egg cracking.
- Fish Bags: Safely capture and transport vanilla or modded fish between tanks.
- Random Fish Bags: A lucky-dip option that rewards a surprise vanilla fish.
- Food Containers: Store compressed fish food so you are not hand-feeding every single day.
- Aquarist Villager: A new profession trading fish-keeping supplies and tank decorations.
- JEI Integration: Every recipe is viewable, including everything crafted at the Aquarist Table.
Decorating Your Aquarium
Better Fishtanks supports a wide range of decorations. You can use vanilla favorites like seagrass, coral, amethyst, and kelp, or craft custom pieces at the Aquarist Table. The mod also adds direct support for corals and plants from Upgrade Aquatic and Hybrid Aquatic, so cross-mod aquariums look genuinely natural rather than cobbled together.
For players who want extra flair, Mini Shrimp can be caught while fishing and crafted into highly saturating fish food, while Pellet Mix keeps fish fed for far longer than basic options. If you enjoy automation, the foxygame.net launcher makes setup painless, offering one-click installation of Better Fishtanks alongside a curated catalog of add-ons that keeps every mod updated automatically.
How to Add Fish to Your Tank
This trips up new players constantly, so here is the process in plain terms. Grab a Fish Bag and right-click any catchable fish in the world. The bag texture updates to show it is no longer empty. Now shift-right-click the tank to release the fish inside. If you want to drop the fish somewhere else entirely, shift-right-click at any target location instead.
One critical warning: fill your tank with water first. Fish need that water to survive, and releasing one into a dry aquarium is a quick way to lose it. It sounds obvious, but the number of players who learn this the hard way is genuinely impressive.
Tech Mod and Automation Support
Better Fishtanks plays nicely with most common tech and automation mods. Both the Fish Tank and Aquarist Table inventories are fully accessible, so pipes and item transfer systems from mods like Create can insert or extract items automatically. Fluid pipes can even fill large aquariums with water, which saves enormous time on bigger builds.
Nether Depths Upgrade and Lava Tanks
Recent updates added support for Nether Depths Upgrade. Tanks can now be filled with lava, letting you build aquariums for mods that use molten environments. Seagrass and kelp from that mod also work as decorations when it is installed, opening up some genuinely striking tank designs.
Config Options Worth Knowing
- Feeding System: Toggle whether fish require food to survive.
- Custom UI Units: Display water levels as Percent, Buckets, or Millibuckets for tech mod compatibility.
- Advanced Captures: Let Fish Bags capture Drowned, Guardians, or Whales, though large fish may eat smaller tank mates.
- Rendering Modes: Switch between vanilla waterlogging and the experimental entity rendering system.
How to Install and Get Started
If you want to download Better Fishtanks, grab the correct file for your Minecraft version and loader, then drop it into your mods folder. Launch the game, craft an Aquarist Table, build a tank, fill it with water, and start catching fish with a Fish Bag. From there, the egg economy and decoration options unfold naturally.
Better Fishtanks does not add new fish on its own. It is designed as the perfect companion for mods that do, which is why it pairs so well with aquatic expansion packs. Whether you want a thriving automated fish farm or a beautiful decorative reef, this mod gives you the tools to build it properly. Grab your bucket and get started.