Building a fish hatchery in Skyrim can be an effective way to raise fish and other creatures for food in both normal game mode and survival mode. These items can restore your health and stamina or provide other useful effects.
This Skyrim Fish Hatchery guide tells you everything you need to know about farming fish and other aquatic creatures so you don't have to fish as much as you otherwise might. He will also explain how to get to Windstad Manor.
Purchased Windstad Mansion and Crafted Hatchery in Skyrim
Before you can build the Fish Hatchery in Skyrim, you need to access the Windstad Mansion. And before you can do that, you'll need to complete the Laid to Rest quest in Morthal.
Once you've completed this questline, Jarl Igdrod Ravencrone will be grateful for the help you've given him. You are one step closer to the hatchery. Its steward, Aslfur, will allow you to purchase Windstad Manor for 5 gold.
Windstad Manor is further north of Morthal, past Movarth's Lair and Ustengrav. As with the other properties added by the Hearthfire DLC, you must first build the following:
- small house model
- floor of the house
- house walls
- house door
- House roof
There are rocks, clay, and logs near the farm location, and there's even a blacksmith's forge ready for you to craft the other materials you need.
Once you have built the mansion, you can create the fish farm. It takes:
- 3x Mined Stone
- 3x sawn log
- 4x nails
You will then find it at the edge of the Windstad mansion, by the lake.
Fish Farming in Skyrim
Now that you have built a fish hatchery in Skyrim, you can add several types of fish and other aquatic creatures to it for breeding. After a few days you will notice that more of them have spawned. This is a great way for you to grow useful food in Survival Mode.
Here are some of the aquatic creatures and fish you can add to your hatchery. You only need one of each for breeding:
- Abacean Longfin
- angelfish
- Sinner
- Char
- arctic shadow
- achigan
- Carp
- Catfish
- Cod
- Pique Cyrodillique
- Direfish
- glass catfish
- Goldfish
- Histcarpe
- Lyretail Anthias
- pearl fish
- Pogfish
- Pygmy sunfish
- Betty River
- Scorpion fish
- Perche Silverside
- Spadefish
- Tripod spider
- vampire fish
Note that some types of fish and creatures require other items to be added to the hatchery for breeding. For example, clams need clam meat, salmon need salmon roe), and slaughter fish need slaughter fish roe.
You can catch some of them at fishing spots spread across Skyrim and then bring them to your hatchery. We've collected all the fishing spots, including maps and a full list of fish, in this guide. If you still need to find the fishing rod and want to know how to fish, we have you covered here.
Now that you know how to build a fish hatchery in Skyrim, you will never be without food in survival mode or out of it. For more tips, tricks, building guides, and quest walkthroughs, head over to our Skyrim guides hub.
