How to Catch a Betta Fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If you want to catch a betta fish in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you're going to need to know a few things first.

There are tons of fish that players can catch as they explore their Animal Crossing: New Horizons island, including the betta fish. This little fish is one of the smaller, yet more valuable one’s in the game that players can try to catch. In this guide we are going to tell you everything you need to know about catching an Animal Crossing: New Horizons betta fish, including which months it appears, what time of day to fish, and more. Here we go!

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons Betta Fish – Month, Time, Value

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a betta fish can be caught during the months of May-October in the Northern Hemisphere and November-April in the Southern Hemisphere. Further, the betta fish can only be caught between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM local time, which means no evening fishing. If you manage to catch the little fish, it can be sold daily for 2,500 Bells or for 3,750 Bells when CJ appears. 

Unfortunately, you won’t find the Animal Crossing: New Horizons betta fish swimming in a pond or the ocean, as they’re only located in rivers. Further, these fish have the second smallest shadow in the game, so if you see a big fish shadow appear, don’t waste your bait. Further, if you don’t see any small shadows you’ll either need to go away and come back later or try to scare away the current fish and wait for new ones to appear.

Related: Nintendo Is Going After Animal Crossing: New Horizons Black Market Sellers

As we mentioned earlier, there are a bunch of different critters to be caught in New Horizons, and new fish and bugs are always coming and going at the end of every month. Luckily, at the time of writing, players in the Northern Hemisphere will have a pretty big window to try and catch a betta fish, so don’t worry if you can’t find today, as there are plenty more days ahead. 

Further, as we head into summertime in the Northern Hemisphere, Nintendo has announced the first of two summer updates which will bring new adventures to the game. For example, with the first summer update, players will now be able to swim and dive in the water and capture all sorts of new creatures. Additionally, on select days throughout the summer, players will be able to participate in the Bug Off event, which will task them with quickly catching a certain number of bugs in exchange for some rewards. 

Check out one of our video guides for the famous title where we take a look at how you can catch sharks: 

If you need help catching fish and bugs in New Horizons, we have tons of great guides on our website that will make the process much simpler. In fact, in the list below, you’ll find some of our recent guides!

Have you managed to catch the Animal Crossing: New Horizons betta fish yet? If so, how many have you caught? Be sure to let us know on our Twitter or Facebook page!


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Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith is a Guides Writer at Prima Games. Previously he has worked with IGN, GameSpot, and a handful of other great outlets. When Andrew isn't writing up game guides, you kind find him playing single-player, narrative-driven games. Wanna say hi? You can email Andrew at [email protected]