Mod request, pick up and move fish?

[Hexaclover]

If anybody is interested in trying to create a mod that allows for picking up fish in the new 1.21.1 update, that would be really neat (especially with the new fish!). I'm usually the one known for creating aquariums in my minecraft worlds, but haven't been able to successfully make one in VS.

Ideally I would be able to pick up a fish and place it down alive, as well as having the action of picking up the fish remove despawning (or using some sort of method to remove despawning).

A few net mods allow picking up other animals such as lizards and bugs, but there aren't any for fish as far as I know. 

Anyway, this is just if anybody is curious or interested, just putting it out there. Happy surviving!

 

Edited October 16, 2025 by Hexaclover

[Echo Weaver]

+1 I want to build aquariums in survival.

I thought I saw something about folks making aquariums in VS, but perhaps those were in creative. 

I'd also be much more likely to collect butterflies if I could build a butterfly garden. I dig collecting lovely wildlife, but only being able to display dead versions just bums me out. 

[Echo Weaver]

OK, actually a live-catching butterfly mod existed at one time: https://mods.vintagestory.at/butterfly

One could probably learn from that. I'd think that fish would be similar. To my surprise, it's just a content mod -- adapting this old version and adding fish might not be a lot of work.

ETA: The warning about lag from too many entities too close together should probably be taken seriously. I'm not sure how many fish one could have in an aquarium or butterflies in a butterfly garden without causing lag.

ETA2: The ornamental fish mod has a mechanism for live capture and transport: https://mods.vintagestory.at/ornamentalfish. I believe it only applies to the fish added by the mod, but this is also a content mod, so adding the functionality to vanilla fish might be straightforward. As written, the relocated fish despawn at light level 8, which seems rather bright to me. I'm not totally sure why one would need a despawn light level at all, but there might be a reason.

This is a really cool idea. I don't want to give the impression I'm running off to make it, though. I have a lot of stuff going on. But with the examples, you might be able to make it yourself @Hexaclover. 

Edited October 16, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[Hexaclover]

8 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

OK, actually a live-catching butterfly mod existed at one time: https://mods.vintagestory.at/butterfly

One could probably learn from that. I'd think that fish would be similar. To my surprise, it's just a content mod -- adapting this old version and adding fish might not be a lot of work.

ETA: The warning about lag from too many entities too close together should probably be taken seriously. I'm not sure how many fish one could have in an aquarium or butterflies in a butterfly garden without causing lag.

ETA2: The ornamental fish mod has a mechanism for live capture and transport: https://mods.vintagestory.at/ornamentalfish. I believe it only applies to the fish added by the mod, but this is also a content mod, so adding the functionality to vanilla fish might be straightforward. As written, the relocated fish despawn at light level 8, which seems rather bright to me. I'm not totally sure why one would need a despawn light level at all, but there might be a reason.

This is a really cool idea. I don't want to give the impression I'm running off to make it, though. I have a lot of stuff going on. But with the examples, you might be able to make it yourself @Hexaclover. 

These are all interesting things to consider! I unfortunately have a lot on my plate, and learning modding between full time work and hobbies just wouldn't be possible, but I appreciate the other resources! I'll try to dig around and check out the ornamental fish mod, perhaps it'll be something I can manage to use for now. 

Not sure why such high light levels are needed, funny to think it's like it would need an actual light like a real fish tank to keep things going lol, probably not intentional but just a thought.

Thanks for your input and time

[Dirty_Wizard]

I think this already exists, I saw a mod with a feature of picking up fish instead of having to "harvest" them, but hell if I can remember which one it was

[Hexaclover]

On 10/18/2025 at 1:50 AM, Dirty_Wizard said:

I think this already exists, I saw a mod with a feature of picking up fish instead of having to "harvest" them, but hell if I can remember which one it was

If you ever come across it please share!

[Narg]

On 10/20/2025 at 6:39 PM, Hexaclover said:

If you ever come across it please share!

It's not what you wanted, but he might have been thinking of Floating Fish, which lets you pick up dead fish as an item and craft it with a knife to get the meat.

For anyone who gets coding and feels like taking a crack, the Ornamental Fish mod lets you move them by including the drop code:

drops: [],
        attributes: {
        netCaughtItemCode: "ornamentalfish:creature-betta-{type}",
    },
and then adding a: 

 code: "creature",
    class: "ItemCreature",
to match each fish type. I don't quite get what goes into the item type/ allowed variants stuff or I would probably give it a try.

Edited October 24, 2025 by Narg