How to Breed Salmon in Minecraft

Salmon are one of the many passive mobs that inhabit the seas and rivers of Minecraft These fish mobs come in several sizes and swim together in schools Catching and cooking salmon is a great way to restore your hunger bar while exploring ocean biomes.

Many players want to know if you can breed salmon like other animal mobs in the game. Unfortunately there is currently no way to breed salmon and produce baby salmon in Minecraft.

Why You Can’t Breed Salmon

Salmon do not have breeding mechanics in Minecraft. There are a few key reasons why salmon breeding is not a feature:

• Fish are not mammals or animals that reproduce through live birth. Fish lay eggs that hatch into baby fish. This type of reproduction isn’t implemented for salmon in Minecraft.

• There is no baby stage for the salmon mob. All salmon spawn at their full adult size. Other breedable mobs like cows and sheep have baby animal stages.

• No love mode or breeding items exist for salmon. Cows and pigs, which can be bred, go into love mode when they are fed their breeding item. Salmon do not enter a love mode when interacted with.

• Salmon are coding as a passive mob group that does not breed. In the game codebase, salmon belong to the fish mob group which does not have breeding abilities coded. Other passive mobs like cows have breeding coded.

How Salmon Spawning Works

Since you can’t breed salmon, the fish rely on natural spawning to appear in ocean biomes. Here’s how salmon spawning works in Minecraft:

• Salmon spawn in cold and frozen ocean biomes. There are normal cold oceans, deep cold oceans, frozen oceans, and deep frozen oceans in this group.

• They also spawn in river and frozen river biomes. Salmon live in both salty seas and freshwater rivers.

• Salmon spawn in schools of 1-5 fish. Schools of salmon will randomly appear together in their valid biomes.

• The spawn rate is somewhat low. You may need to wait a while before salmon naturally spawn near you. Exploration helps find more schools.

• Special conditions must be met. Salmon only spawn in water between Y levels 46 and sea level. Certain blocks must be present below the spawn location.

So salmon rely fully on this natural spawning process to appear in ocean and river biomes to be caught. Without breeding, there’s no way to manually produce more salmon yourself.

Catching and Cooking Salmon

Since you can’t farm salmon through breeding, catching fish from natural spawning is the best way to obtain a steady supply. Here are some tips for catching and cooking salmon:

• Use a fishing rod to efficiently catch salmon from above ground without having to swim for fish yourself. Cast from shorelines and docks.

• Make a bucket of fish by scooping up a salmon with a water bucket. The bucket keeps the salmon contained so you can release it anywhere.

• Lead salmon into collection systems using flowing water and bubble streams to gather all the fish in one spot.

• Build underwater containment with soul sand bubbles to create easy salmon harvesting chambers.

• Cook salmon in furnaces, smokers, or campfires to turn the raw fish into cooked salmon which restores more hunger.

With a efficient salmon catching systems, you’ll have a healthy supply of nourishing fish. Cook up the salmon so it provides the most saturation for your hunger bar.

Alternatives to Breeding Salmon

Since breeding fish isn’t possible, what are some other ways to produce a lot of salmon without manually breeding them? Here are a few alternatives:

• Build near salmon spawning biomes like cold oceans so new schools frequently appear.

• Connect waterways and rivers to your base so salmon can swim close to you.

• Use Lure enchantments on fishing rods to drastically speed up catch rates.

• Transport salmon in buckets to move fish to custom aquariums and pools near your base.

• Cure zombie villagers to unlock trades for salmon from fisherman villagers.

• Kill guardians and elder guardians who have a small chance of dropping salmon as loot.

These options help provide a steady supply of salmon without directly breeding the fish yourself. With the right setup, you’ll have all the salmon you need for food and trading.

The Future of Salmon Breeding

While salmon breeding isn’t currently possible, there’s always a chance it could be added in a future Minecraft update. The developers at Mojang listen closely to community feedback and often add top requested features.

There are a few ways salmon breeding could be implemented:

• Adding a baby salmon mob that grows into adults
• Coding salmon to enter love mode when clicking with a fish egg item
• Having salmon lay eggs that players can collect and hatch

For now, salmon remain a purely naturally spawning passive mob. But if enough players request it, Mojang could program breedable salmon in a future update. Be sure to submit feedback and suggestions to the official Minecraft feedback site.

So while you can’t breed salmon yet, there are still plenty of ways to catch fish for food and cooking. With smart salmon hunting strategies, you’ll have full supplies without needing to breed them yourself. Perhaps someday salmon breeding will become a reality to bring even more fishy life to the seas and rivers of Minecraft worlds.