Taking Inventory: Tropical fish

There are quite a lot of different types of fish in Minecraft. There are cod. There are salmon. There are pufferfish. And then there are 3,072 different types of tropical fish. Let’s roll all of those different tropical fish species into one, and call it our item of the month.

“Wait, hold on a minute!” I hear you cry. “I demand that each of those tropical fish types gets an article of its own.” Me too, friend. But unfortunately the powers-that-be at Mojang for some reason did not want to pay me to write 3,072 articles about different kinds of fish. I’m not sure why, but you can bet that I’m logging a complaint at the highest level.

In the meantime, let’s see what commonalities we can find among the rich biodiversity found in the Overworld’s oceans. Tropical fish appear in large groups in warm and lukewarm oceans and lush caves, as well as in mangrove swamps in Java Edition. They only thrive underwater – if you put one on land, it’ll die.

You can use a bucket on one to pick it up and transport it longer distances. If killed, all of the different species will drop a single “tropical fish” item. They also have a small chance of dropping either bonemeal or bone depending on which version of the game you’re playing. 

As well as swinging your sword around underwater, other ways to get tropical fish include defeating guardians and elder guardians (very dangerous) and fishing (much safer). When fishing, be aware that you won’t generally catch tropical fish in a jungle biome.

Tropical fish can’t be cooked. We tried it, it tasted awful. Raw, though, they’re just about palatable – restoring one hunger and 0.2 saturation. They can also be traded with fisherman villagers, and fed to wolves – which will heal the wolf for two health points. Unlike other wolf foods, tropical fish can’t be used to breed wolves or speed up the growth of baby wolves.

Image credit: Fascinating Universe // CC BY-SA 3.0

You’ll find tropical fish in the Earth’s oceans too – primarily around coral reefs. These amazing ecosystems occupy just 1% of the surface area of our planet’s seas, but host 25% of all fish species. While you might think that their bright colours would make them easy prey, you’d be surprised – a healthy coral reef is just as colourful, and they can camouflage themselves easily amongst the corals and plantlife.

“Tropical fish” isn’t a term that means much in a biological sense – it encompasses thousands of different species that can have far greater genetic differences than those that separate you from a dolphin. What they have in common is that they live in warm water, and so if they’re kept in an aquarium in a cooler climate, it will need to be heated.

As you’ve probably heard, human-caused climate change, alongside water pollution and overfishing, are making life quite difficult for coral reefs and their piscine inhabitants. This means that many tropical fish species, and the other plant and animal species that depend on them, are under threat of extinction. 

Luckily, Minecraft’s oceans are full of fish – and so it’s okay to take a few home in-game for your own personal aquarium. Or to feed to your wolves. Up to you, really.