Moderator's note: The program discussed in this thread is available in our Guides Section.

When I first started playing this game I tried to keep track of the fish that I had bred in my head. When that didn't work I started writing them down. That failed as well. Being a programmer I broke out my tools and wrote a program which lets me log the fish I have bred and what species the parents were. If anyone is interested in this please let me know. If I get enough response I'll clean it up and donate it to the community.

If you want the program that's shown in the attached screen shot, look in the Guides Section.

LDW is looking for that sort of thing for their Guides Section. I'm sure it would be well received, since people are always asking for good ways to track their fish breeding! You can check out Carla's post about submissions here.

I'd definitely be interested. What I've done is started an Access database. I started with Excel, but got fed up flicking through tables, entering information more than once on different sheets, etc. This game has helped me improve my Access skills.

oooo yes please!!!

Sounds perfect! I've used spreedsheets and pencil and paper ... LOTS of paper. Being able to keep it all in a program sounds wonderful!

I've just started, and while I'm not the best at organization, I do better when it comes to a computer/program. I'll definitely be interested!

i want to do that to thats a great idea if you can plees E-mail it to me at TDOG6675@aol.com

I found this site through a search...
http://www.cleverarts.com/fishtycoon/default.asp
(sorry if links aren't allowed) Anyways, it's incomplete in at least 1 combination.. if you put greenfin and silky it'll say the answer isn't available, but the answer is orange.. I've been working on a graph myself, long hard work, but gives me something to keep me busy.

Yes, links are allowed! The Clever Arts site probably has more links to it from the Fish Tycoon forum than any other site! There's also a link to it in the Spoilers thread of the Fish Tycoon Guides, which can be found at the bottom of the forums.

I would be interested in that program. It sounds great! I tried to keep track in my head and on paper too but it gets confusing.

Yeah, I keep mixing them up.. Or crossbreeding the same thing twice, etc. I would like that page I linked's program so I could enter the info as I go along, ya know? Cuz there are certain ones not quite complete on that one yet.

OooooOOOo I found the spreadsheet in the other thread (Guides thread) that lets me keep track easier. <3

I've emailed Fish Tycoon Helper 1.0 to be posted for download. It allows you to create a list of fin types as well as body types as you discover them which you can then use to track the fin/body types of the parents, the price of the fish, the tank level and any notes you might wish to mark down such as using the secret formula or the mutation magic fish. Also there is an log which allows you to enter the time and date and any events that take place such as medicating fish or whatever. Hope you all find it useful. Oh and LDW... I'm available for hire

We now have a wonderful Fish Tycoon Tracker application, courtesy of one of our community -- Celebane!

Check it out in our Fish Tycoon Guide Section! A link to the post is here .

I would LOVE this...If I could have it e-mailed as well...kevandmare@shaw.ca
I would sure appreciate it...A life saver!
Hugs Marilyn

whoops...that should be
kevandmare@shaw.ca
LOL

You can download it at the link posted in Carla's post above.

Thanks...I just did that!!
Appreciate it...MUCH!
Marilyn

Just a quick checkup to see if anyone is having any problems/questions with Fish Tycoon Helper. If you do post it here and I'll do my best to answer it.

I took a look at it, but I'm a bit of a brick instead of a sponge when it comes to soaking up new knowledge. I couldn't figure out how to use it.

Bear in mind, though, that I haven't figured out MS Excel yet either, so it's not the fault of your program. Some of us (well, me anyway, lol) just need clear "Step 1, Step 2, Step 3" instructions in a program. The whole query thing is probably perfectly clear to programmers and database users, but it flew right over me... never even touched my hairdo.

Ok... here's a brief overview of the program.

Adding Bodies and Fins
In order to add entries to the Lineages table the bodies and fins must first be added to their respective tables. To add a new body type click on the BREEDS button in the bottom left corner. This will bring up the breeds list. To enter a new body click on Add. Type the name of the body then click save. Fin types are added the same way via the Fin Types button.

Once you have a fish's body and fin entered into their respective tables you can then construct the lineage for that fish. To do so click add in the bottom right of the main Lineages screen. This will pop up a window to let you choose the details of the fish you wish to add. On the left side you can choose the Fish's fin and body type as well as the tank level you think it might require and the price of the fish. On the right side you can select the parent's fins and bodies. In the notes section you can enter any notes such as if this is a magic fish or a perfect fish or the strange chemical or mutation fish were used. Click save to save your fish.

Column Sorting
You can click on any column header to sort by that column. The color of the active sort column will be red and the column header will be surrounded with <>. If there's a + in the <> you're sorting in ascending order. If its a - its in descending order.

Searching
Whatever column is highlighted in red is the column that the search in the upper left corner of the screen will look in. You can enter in the first few characters of what you want to search for (i.e raz for razorback) and then hit enter or tab to execute the search.

Querying
This is the most complex function in the app. This basically allows you to do complex searching across multiple columns. For instance, you might wanna see all the combinations you have found for betas. Since either parent1 or parent2 could be a beta you have to query both columns at the same time to find all instances. The query would look like this

PARENT1BODY = BETA OR PARENT2BODY = BETA

If you wanted to only get breeds where both parents were betas you would replace OR with AND.

Suppose you wanted to query all the instances in which you've bred a pink beta with something. The query would be

PARENT1FINTYPE = PINK AND PARENT1BODY = BETA OR PARENT2FINTYPE = PINK AND PARENT2BODY = BETA

Suppose you wish to find all the entries where the price is over $100. The query would be

Price > 100

You can combine this with the query above to get all the combinations over $100 where a parent was a pink beta by querying with this

PRICE > 100 AND PARENT1FINTYPE = PINK AND PARENT1BODY = BETA OR PARENT2FINTYPE = PINK AND PARENT2BODY = BETA


The query tool acts like a filter. Only showing you the records which fit your query and hiding all others. To reset the query Click the white square to the left of the query or hit the F6 key.

I hope this clears things up a little for everyone and that I didn't confuse anyone any further. If you have additional questions please let me know.

Wow, very impressive! I'll definitely save these instructions. Once I get some entries into your program, it will be fun trying it out. Thanks!

ummmm click on breeds button in the bottom left corner??? what breeds button??? i don't see any breeds button. did i get a bad version of fish tracker???

hmmmmm i dont seem to have certain of the buttons you mention ie breeds and no add button either

I had the same problem with no buttons at the bottom... then I noticed the program has to be opened the full height of my screen to see the buttons. 800 pixels top to bottom, and there they are. Peek a Boo Buttons.

GREAT program! I wish I had had it earlier in the game.

Try maximizing the window as GrammaBobbie suggested. If you still can't see the buttons here are the shortcut keys for them.

Alt+A = Add
Alt+E = Edit
Alt+D = Delete

You can also access the lists of bodies and fintypes by clicking on View on the menu at the top of the screen and choosing Breeds or Fin Types.

maximizing didn't help but the shortcut key did:) thanks for the help and thanks for the prog

What screen resolution are you running? It sounds as if it might be 800X600 or *cringe* 640X480. If its 640X480 then you're on your own . If its 800X600 try changing it to 1024X768. Note that this will make everything appear smaller and might take a little while to get used to. I'll take a look at the program and see if I can adjust the screen size also.

I changed the Fish Tracker File with a new one that Celebane sent me. It should take care of the screen sizing issue.

Once I got the new file and then could see the buttons (I'm in 1024x768), I followed the directions and got my fish started entering. Really great program! Thanks!

That must be why I didn't have probems with the buttons. The resolution on my new computer came with something like 1920x1200, which I had to turn down a notch, otherwise the Fish Tycoon window was too small.

My biggest problem with the buttons on the Tracker was not knowing what to do with them! lol. Now it makes more sense.

Great program! Thanks for taking the time to put it together and then sharing it with all of us!

I am having a problem though... I can't print the list. I've checked my printer, everything is fine and it prints from other programs. Any ideas?

Umm... I didn't put a print feature into it as I figured that it wouldn't be useful to many since you can't search/sort/query a printed copy which is the main focus of the program. I'll put it up to a vote. If enough people would like to be able to print the lists/combinations I'll put it in.

Cheers! I get so hopelessly lost sometimes... it would be sooooo much easier (for me anyway) to be able to look at a printout while I'm playing. Maybe I'm just a little "old school" and sometimes I need actual paper in my hands.

Thanks for responding so quickly!

I started this game one Saturday afternoon just for fun and now I am hooked. It took me several tanks to realize I am an over-feeder. I am actually learning so much from all of you! Many thanks. Any tracking systems would be awesome. My 2 year old son loves to see the babies. You guys are so much further along than me. I have had the game a week and I am slowly plugging along. Do you guys use real time? I work 10 hour days and by the time I come home I have dead babies. Much Luck! MOANS

If you are going to be away for extended time you should put the game on 1/2 speed (and if for areally long time, then stop time.)

I will usually have the game on 1/2 speed or 2x speed depnding on how often I can check on things.

THANKS. I will give it a shot. I am glad that I finally got another magic fish and I am breeding it with another one like it to get money for now. I am so excited to continue seeing all of the progess that you all have made. I never new it could be this BIG.

Hello, I downloaded this program. It worked well and I had the list filled up with all my fish in my tanks and everything. When I was done playing with my fishies, I closed the program using the exit button. The next time I wanted to play with my fish again, when I opened up the fish tracker all the information I had typed in there was gone. What did I do wrong? How can I make it save the info I put in about my types of fish? Help!!

There are a couple of things that could cause this to happen. The program creates a few TPS files which is where the data is stored.

1. If these files got deleted then the program would create new ones.
2. If you run the program from a different location than you previously ran it new TPS files would be created in the new location.
3. If you re-unzipped the program from the downloaded zip file the files may have gotten overwritten with new ones.

If anyone else using the program has had anything like this happen please let me know.

I've given up on using the tracker. I can't remember which fish I have entered while I'm playing the game. This is why I was trying to print the list I had already entered. I'll start over and make my own list in Excel that I can print. If I have to keep going from FT to the database every five minutes, what's the point? The reason I thought a printout would be helpful is that I could look at a piece of paper while I'm in the game and it would show me which fish I had already found... those that I haven't I would simply make a note of and enter in the database later, printing a hard copy after entering a certain amount of new names.

Thanks for taking the time to share the software, but until a print function is added on I won't be using it anymore.

That would be cool. I use print screen and keep pictures of each of the species information card that comes up, pretty cumbersome, I would be interested. thanks

I have devised a matrix and diagonalized it. The breeding actually follows a very regular pattern for all fish and for all fins. By simply following the row and column to where they meet you can find out what fish and fin each combination will make. The cool aspect of this is that the fins and the fish-bodies are completely independent of one another.
From this, I devised a chart with fins in the columns and bodies in the rows. when placed in the proper order, the fish breed that results is exactly halfway between the two parent breeds. for a copy of this spreadsheet, email egustafs@purdue.edu

Additionally, I have come up with a combination of 41 specific fish through which you can make any breed in one single incubation. I keep these fish in my tanks 1 and2 and do my breeding in tank 3. If you'd like a list of these 41 breeds email egustafs@purdue.edu

Thanks! I am using your program, found it very easy to use and very helpful. Appreciate you making it available to us all.

Anyone know what to do? I clicked to open my fish tracker program and all the details I had input were gone! It even asked me to unzip the files again, just like the 1st time I had used it. Advice? Luckily, I had about 80% of my fish recipes written down, but for that other 20%....grr. (Good thing I dont have a real job)

The author of the program (Celebane) offered some help for that situation earlier in this thread - back about one page from here.

I was wondering if anyone has been having problems with the fish not being alphabatized correctly? I've been noticing that every now and then when I enter some fish it gets shifted into the middle of another group...if anyone has found a fix for this please let me know

This program has been very helpful, and has made breeding fish more fun for me...thanks!

This is definitely a great program! Thanks so much for making it available to us. I was stumped on how to keep track and this is perfect.

I'm sorry I think I was unclear about what problem I was having. I'm having no problems with each line being alphabetical, but when I find the same fish for instance Speckled Goldbulb, I try to keep tabs on how many different ways to breed that fish. So, when I hit fin type to organize alphabetically everything is great, but when I look at the body tab it's hard to decipher how many of those fish I have found since in this case goldbulb is placed randomly throughout the body tab.

ack...hope that made more sense.

Thanks so much! That answered my question, and more. I hadn't taken advantage of the query function before, so now I have more work to do~ Off to find more fishies

I got 273 but no program or keeping track just going 4 it
HA Ha

Sounds sweet, count me in!

The program is available for download in this post, which is located in the Fish Tycoon Guide section of the forums.

i have been working on taking pictures of each fish, and its cross breeds, and fin types (this is turning out to be a major undertaking) my whole ideal about doin this was to be able to build a website with pictures, and links for each breed, and sub species of the above... if anyone would like to help out with this undertaking feel free to PM me here or email me at mwparker29_70@yahoo.com any help would be great.. by the way how many body types, and fin types , and basic breeds are there?? i know that there are over 400 plus species, wich would equal to a huge website with pictures, and would make a fun and interesting place to look up breeds....

i've started much in the same way, made screenshots of all breads, some have 3 screenshots as i found out the same fish can come from different parents, which makes it all a bit confusing..i've found the magic fish without problems, quite early in the game, without the unknown chemical btw, and have found (only) 175 types of fish sofar, and i am running out of ideas for breeding ;-) i've used the chemical now and found about 20 breads with it...tiger fin is my latest discovery...

Keeping track of all the fish with screen shots is soooooo much fun! And sooooooooooooo time consuming! I did it for a couple of months! Best I came up with is going with full tanks. Each fish with each fin, then vise versa ... each fin on one type of fish ... plus formulas on how to breed the fish, but only 'one' way. There are so many ways to get the fish I decided not to even attempt to keep track of 'all' the ways!

Keeping track of breeding is definately the only way to go to find all the fish! I ended up with 440 .. and of course had to go back and find that 'one' that I'd missed!

Silly world. So many folks having so much fun with so many fish. .............. Sure is a nice break from reality!

I'd definitely be interested!!!! This is a relly great idea! ca you send it on e-mail at christaline_81@hotmail.com please?

Why not just download it? It's attached to the first post in this thread, and it's also available in the Fish Tycoon Guide section (complete with instructions) in this post.

What is Tank Level used for?

oh great. As if I can remember when I got fishies that survived without alot of meds. Thanks.

Quote:

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oh great. As if I can remember when I got fishies that survived without alot of meds. Thanks.

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LOL Well that is why the author put that in the program, so you do not have to remember. I did not realize what if was for when I first started using it either, so it is not so helpful to me either. Oh well, that’s life.

Yes, my compliments to the author. You've added a whole new dimension to the game for me. Ahhh, if only I were so successful when I owned a real store.

I've created a program myself that will let you know every possible fish combination to come up with any given fish. In addition, you can tell the program what two fish you want to combine and it will tell you what fish you will end up with. It also contains a list of all 441 fish available. You can select all your fish you currently have in your tanks. Once you have done this, you can select any given fish and have all the fish combinations that will make that fish when mated. The resulting list will show in green any fish combination you have available based on the fish you have entered. Currently this application uses a SQL server backend, but if there is enough interest in this application, I may be able to change the data source so that I can distribute the app a little easier. Anyone interested? For now, if you would like a list of fish combinations that make up any given fish, just put up a post with the fish you would like to breed and I will tell you all the fish combinations that will make that fish.

I need some assistance with the program. I unzipped, added info, etc and closed out of it. It didn't ask me to save, & I couldn't find a save function. When I reopended the program, it opened up (did not need to unzip) and its blank. I don't understand why its doing this, or why its saved as the program and then extra tps files as well. Please help!

The TPS files are the data files that the program uses to store the information that you enter into the tool. They need to be in the same directory as the Fish Tracker program file, or the tool will create new ones (which will be "blank." There isn't a "save" function; the program automatically saves the data that you enter into it.

You might want to double-check that you are always running the Fish Tracker from the same location, so that the data that you enter is always saved in the right place.

That would be heaps good.
If you could do it it would be great.

yes please!

Hi Hannah

That sounds great!

i would love that please

please send to me

hey everyone

I am a programmer and just got the game from a friend.
I was thinking of making a web based database with picture and everything.

But i need people to submit their data into it. as a result i wanted to know everyone's comment before i make it ( like who is willing to help with informations for it).

Peace
Devbro

I am having problems downloading, when I open the zip file, it is empty. Any chance of getting it directly emailed to favialeon@sprintpcs.com? Thanks.

i'd love to have it also but i'm betting that yours won't work on a mac platform?!

COMBINATIONS DATABASE as Clever Arts, but with all combinations: Combinations Database

thanks!

Thank you very much for the tracker it works great for me....one thing is it possible to print the table, Im only getting a print setup option, not a print option

Hi me again, I just saw the other post about the print problem and I totally agree, its a bit of a pain having to go from tracker to game and back again, it would be perfect to be able to print out a copy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apart from the tracker aren't all these programs taking the fun and purpose out of the game?! i.e. discovering how to breed new breeds and fin types...if we have a program telling us how to do it, whats the point of the game

I'll do whatever I can

With the 4 fishs Silky Shark, Silky Spontanus, Twin-Fin Shark and Twin-Fin Spontanus you can breed all other fishs...now in the "Combination Datbase" too: Combination Database

I think that's a great idea, I would love to be able to keep track of all my fish, lots of people would love a program like that.

I have a question for or anyone who knows alot about . Is there a way to have multiple charts going for different games? My son has a game, I have a game, and my husband has a game. It would be nice to be able to track everyone's fishies.

The program itself doesn't allow multiple data files, but you could make several folders, appropriately named, with a copy of the fish tracker program in each folder. Since the data is maintained in the folder where the program resides, that would allow you to have separate data files for each person.

Kewl....I was copying the tracker on my desktop, so I had the right idea, but it kept changing things in the original when I changed the info in the copies. I'm so glad there are people like you out there that have a clue to help out people like me....clueless. Thank you sooooooo very much!

that would be jsut wonderful!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Please.

Wouldnt it be great if there was a .... Village people tracker so you can input both parents and how many children they had and their names, and have it generate a family tree at any point. Tee hee. Too bad i didnt stick with the visual basic.net classes in college.

Ill have to try out this fish tracker next time i get a chance to fire up fish tycoon.

That would be so helpful and I would be very grateful. Thanks for your kindness.

PaulG,
I'm really curious as to how you set up a database with Access for Fish Tycoon. As I need to learn it(Access), and have no idea where to start, I think this would be ideal for me, since it's fun at the same time. Can you give me some pointers?
Mommabear

Yes please. You don't know how much this will help. It may even stop me going grey trying other ways of tracking my fish.

Ummm...why can't I see a way to download the Fish Tracker? Can someone please e-mail it to me at firstofmay@verizon.net? Thanks!

Traci

The fish tracker is contained as an attachment, both in the first post of this thread and in the Fish Tycoon Guide section. All you need to do is click on the Attachment link near the bottom of the post. You can download the tracker, as well as read the complete instructions, in this post.

Dear Celebane,
Thanks so much for coming up with such a great offering. This game sure needs it! I love Fish Tycoon, but I've got scraps of paper all over with specialized breedings on them. In fact, I finally had to quit playing because it became too much trouble to keep track of them. Again, thanks from a greatful player!

im brand new to the game and the forum and i want to know if it is bad if i breed different fish rite away becuz they are almost dead and i need to sell them

You have to be careful which fish you cross-breed in the beginning. Until you research the higher levels of Fish Environment, most hybrids won't survive for long. It's always safe to breed two identical fishies, as long as they are staying healthy.

Just wanted to ask how every is taking these screen shots of their game? I found this site today this is so cool!! This is one of the most addictive games I have played.

I never knew you could over feed...

I just want to say I really appreciate this program also, it is so helpful. And just to confirm, there is no way to print from it, correct?

Sounds great.Me, my brother, and 2 of our friends would really appresiate it!!!!

I'd definitely be interested in the program! Am having trouble cross referencing doing this with paper!

The program is available in our Guides Section.

Oh yeah! I've been tracking mine on Excel but it's not helping much. Go for it!

BTW, My husband and I met over a Pink Floyd concert.

Is it Mac compatible? I've used it a bunch and tried to put it on my mac, it told me it cant be opened BUT its possible I just need to figure out a program to open it with. But first I should just ask if it is even usable with a mac.

Most of the utilities that have been contributed by fans are for Windows only, including Fish Tracker. The only utility that I'm aware of that's available in a Mac version is the Tribe Selector for Virtual Villagers.

I'd absolutely love it. Have been trying to keep track through screensnaps of the fish's heritage, but that's also too cumbersome.

Hi Celebane, i was wondering if u can create a program like "virtual seed tray" ...

It will help a lot in the game...

I'm sure you've all worked this out already, but you need just 2 tables (excel, word or handwritten) to track your fish:

1. One for the fish fins i.e hornet, pink, speckled etc. There are 21 different types of fish fins.
2. One for the fish bodies. i.e. goldbulb, spotanus, arrowfish. There are 21 different types of fish bodies.

The fish bodies and fish fins are 100% interchangeable.

There are lots of different matches that result in the same fish. For example, to obtain the Speckled Leaffish (one of the magic fishes) you can breed the following 2 fishes to produce the same results:

1. Greenfin Spotanus x Spined Fruitfish
2. Greenfin Fruitfish x Spined Spotanus
3. Finless Goldbulb x Golden Bananafish
4. Golden Goldbulb x Finless Bananafish
5. Flagged Goldbulb x Golden Bananafish

There are many, many more combinations for the Speckled Leaffish. Although a lot of them may be 'out of reach' at the start of the game because fish environment needs to be researched.

Some fish cannot be soley bred from other fish species. These are the fish bodies Shark and Spotanus and fish fins Silky and Twin-Fin. So you will need to purchase eggs (you only need to buy the common eggs) to obtain these. Obviously, once you have these fish you can breed them with others from the same species or sometimes with a different species of fish. i.e shark x catfish = shark, silky x tiger = silky. Spotanus and Twin-Fin cannot be cross bred with any other species.

If you lose your Greenfin Spotanus (first magic fish), you will get another, eventually, from a batch of common eggs but it may take many purchases of these eggs before you get one.

I hope this helps. :-)

There are a whole bunch of links and resources on the web for Fish Tycoon. You can find them at this Fish Tycoon Strategies page.