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[dolalmoth]

I noticed that there is very little information about aquariums on the forum, so I was hoping we could compile enough material (even speculative) to put some more on the wiki.

I noticed a quirk in my aquarium:
-either fish die very quickly, or dwarves steal them from the aquariums to eat them
I doubt that the dwarves are eating the fish, since I have more than enough food, but perhaps my fisherdwarves are fishing from it?

So any contribution to this would be great.  Thanks in advance.

[Dameleth]

Doesn't matter how much food you have, dwarves will sometimes run and eat caught critters, be it fish, snakes, lizards, ya name it.. a dwarf will most likely all too happily eat it over your masterful sugar giant cave spider roast.

[slink]

Are these glass cages, or traps?  Dwarves will eagerly eat creatures out of traps.  They shouldn't touch the ones in glass cages, but those are the dangerous ones like carp.

[MathijsBuster]

Doesn't matter how much food you have, dwarves will sometimes run and eat caught critters, be it fish, snakes, lizards, ya name it.. a dwarf will most likely all too happily eat it over your masterful sugar giant cave spider roast.

Ewww. So would I.

Anyway, if a dwarf has a certain preference for the fish you have in your aquarium, they'll happily go and nibble on them. But like Slink said, they shouldn't touch non-vermin fish. So what kind of fish are we talking about here, exactly?

[Zeg]

Dwarves will steal vermin fish (and regular vermin) from cages/aquariums just as fast as from traps. Somehow, someone always wants to eat them. So if you actually want to keep them, for setting up a vermin zoo for example, press t over the cage and forbid the vermin inside. That will stop dwarves eating them.

Though another thought arises: would being forbidden inside the cage stop dwarves from admiring (or being repulsed by) the vermin. I doubt it.

[Grendus]

I don't know, honestly. Forbidden items will still function if they have one. Forbidding the mechanism in a linkage (not the lever mechanism itself) won't stop the connection, nor will forbidding the trap and cage in a cage trap stop it from caging gobbos. However, dwarves don't interact with forbidden items. So it's possible that forbidding the vermin fish will have the same effect as letting a dwarf scarf them down: no admiring thought. Of course, very few dwarves like vermin, don't they usually like large animals and hate vermin?

[clc02]

Likes purring maggots for their... Quiet purring I think?  I've seen it a couple of times

[smjjames]

Theres also fluffy wamblers and I've seen dwarves who like faeries. Most dwarves detest some type of vermin, but there are some which like various vermin types.

[Earthquake Damage]

Doesn't matter how much food you have, dwarves will sometimes run and eat caught critters, be it fish, snakes, lizards, ya name it.. a dwarf will most likely all too happily eat it over your masterful sugar giant cave spider roast.

FYI early on it's pretty easy to feed a fort with vermin alone.  Keep a lot of animal traps handy, assign one or two dedicated trappers (requires as many kennels as you have trappers), assign at least one dedicated animal hauler, and periodically move all trapped vermin to a single cage.  The more traps you have, the less often you'll have to cage everything.  Also, I suggest only stockpiling the empty traps for a handy indicator.  When it runs low, cage everything.

Bonus:  You won't need cats.

[slink]

I just looked over the 40 adults in my current fortress.  Only one likes a vermin (steelhead trout).  A few like two non-vermin animals or beings, and a few like none.  Most like one.  One likes a type of clown.   

[Grendus]

Ahh yes, burny clown preference. Had a noble who liked them. Was a shame, I was building a plains fortress at the time...

[Sphalerite]

Ahh yes, burny clown preference. Had a noble who liked them. Was a shame, I was building a plains fortress at the time...

Burny clowns are best admired from a very long distance.

[Silfurdreki]

I actually have a dwarf (one of the founding seven, even) in my current fortress who likes Dragons; "for their terrible majesty".

[Derakon]

As far as I can tell, dwarves prize vermin as food over any other food source; if you want to keep the vermin from getting eaten you'll have to forbid it. This is probably a bug.