Top 5 Fish Species to Raise in Stardew Valley’s Fish Ponds

A Fish Pond costs 5,000g, 200 Stone, 5 Seaweed, and 5 Green Algae at Robin's Carpenter Shop. Most occupants reproduce until they reach the current capacity; pond requests unlock higher capacity up to the species' limit. Tiger Trout and special entries can use different reproduction rules.

Fish Pond building requirements — Fish Pond requirements: 5,000g, 200 Stone, 5 Seaweed, and 5 Green Algae.

Which Items Can Live in a Pond?

Fish Pond compatibility depends on the occupant’s fish type and pond category. Clam (object 372) is valid: its type is Fish and it carries the fish_crab_pot, fish_ocean, and fish_has_roe tags, so it matches the Ocean Crab Pot Fish pond entry.

Stardew Valley 1.6.15 includes special pond rules for legendary fish and their second-generation relatives. A pond still holds only one occupant type at a time, and fish removed with a rod have normal quality.

Fish That Change Pond Water Color

Fish	Water	Data condition
Slimejack	Green	Population 3+
Lava Eel	Red	Population 1+ after the population-2 gate has been unlocked
Super Cucumber	Purple	Population 3+
Void Salmon	Dark purple	Population 3+

The purple-water fish is Super Cucumber, not ordinary Sea Cucumber.

Fish species that change Fish Pond water color — Slimejack, Lava Eel, Super Cucumber, and Void Salmon have colored-water records.

Roe Processing: Caviar vs. Aged Roe

Only Sturgeon Roe becomes Caviar in a Preserves Jar. Roe from other fish becomes Aged Roe. For ordinary fish, Roe base value is derived from the fish's base price and Aged Roe doubles that Roe value.

Fish	Roe base	Jar product	Jar base	With Artisan
Sturgeon	130g	Caviar	500g	700g
Lava Eel	380g	Aged Roe	760g	1,064g
Blobfish	280g	Aged Roe	560g	784g

Five Useful Pond Choices

Sturgeon — Its exclusive Caviar is required by the Missing Bundle. One mature pond also provides a renewable source rather than relying on repeated catches.
Lava Eel — Its 380g Roe becomes 760g Aged Roe before Artisan. The pond can also produce Gold Ore, Spicy Eel, Magma Geodes, and current-version Cave Jelly rows at their population thresholds.
Blobfish — Its 280g Roe becomes 560g Aged Roe or 784g with Artisan. At population 9 its special table includes a 2% Pearl row and a separate 2% row for five Farm Warp Totems.
Stingray — This is object 836; there is no “Tiger Slimefish” object or pond. Its local output rows are listed below.
Crab — Ten Crabs in a pond unlock Willy's one-time Pearl dialogue. Crab is also used in Crab Cakes.

Stingray in Stardew Valley — This image represents the Stingray entry; “Tiger Slimefish” is not a Stardew Valley item.

Stingray Population-Gated Output Rows

Required population	Chance	Output
1	80%	Roe
4	5%	Magma Cap
5	100%	Roe row
7	10%	2–5 Cinder Shards
9	6%	Dragon Tooth
9	10%	Battery Pack

Fish pond produced-item rows are evaluated in order, so displayed row chances should not be casually added together as independent guaranteed outputs.

Crab Cakes Buff

Crab Cakes provides +1 Speed and +1 Defense for 16 minutes 47 seconds. “+33% Movement Speed” is not a separate second movement buff; it was an informal interpretation of the same +1 Speed effect.

Crab in Stardew Valley — A ten-Crab pond unlocks Willy's one-time Pearl reward.

Changing the Occupant

Fishing every occupant out does not reset the pond's species. Use the Empty Pond command before adding a different fish. The new occupant then starts its own capacity-gate progression.