While most goldfish are fairly easy to find, this one is much more elusive! We take a look at the best methods for catching a Ranchu Goldfish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
How to Catch a Ranchu Goldfish
Let's take a look at the Ranchu Goldfish's Critterpedia information because it's essential to know when you can actually catch this thing. Although it is available all year round, the time frame in which you can catch it during the day is a bit inconvenient if you are working or going to school.
- Northern Hemisphere: all year round
- Southern Hemisphere: all year round
- Active hours: 9 a.m. – 16 p.m.
- Shade: small
- Location: pond
- Price: 4500 Bells
Ranchu goldfish shadow is small, but not the smallest of shadows. You will find some tadpoles if you are unfamiliar with the size. Try to learn to recognize the smallest shadow quite well, so that you know the difference between it and the small size. We thank Rinimt for the image below.
There are usually a few different methods I use to catch rare fish, but with a pond fish you really only have the option of using fish bait. There is a trick you can use to save yourself a headache when you have to farm clams and create bait one by one.
Fish bait / hard resets
Fish bait can be obtained by running around your beaches and looking for dark holes that sprout from the water. Use your shovel on any of these locations to get a Manila Clam. Gather a bunch of them and head to the crafting table. You can use them to create fish bait. Once you have the bait, head to a pond, which is a small body of water that does not lead to the sea. Scatter the bait in the water and you will get a guaranteed fish spawn. If the shadow is the wrong size, just add more bait. Repeat until you get the one you want!
If you don't want to continue breeding Fish bait, you can use the reset method to make things easier. What you need to do is pick up 10 fish bait and then go to a pond. Wait for your game to autosave, look at the top right of the screen for the spinning point icon. Once that happens, start throwing the bait into the water and look for the Ranchu goldfish size shadow. Cast to anything that fits the size! If you don't catch any, press the Home button on your controller and completely close Animal Crossing. You have about 2 or 3 minutes between autosaves, so be sure to reset before the next save! This will take you back to where you saved earlier and you'll have all your bait. Repeat this method until you catch the Ranchu goldfish!
