I feel like I am never going to finish my museum

[Etown20]

I spent a few days doing the 1-day time-traveling trick to get most of the art, and then I was still missing 10 or so pieces, but fortunately was able to trade for them on this forum to complete the art exhibit.

What I observed when time-traveling for the art was that it seems unlikely to acquire it all without trading. As others have mentioned, the game will continue to show you duplicates and fakes, so while at first you are routinely getting new art, once you need the last 10-20, the RNG does not seem to be in the player's favor.

Redd only appears 26 times or so each year with no guarantee you're going to get a new piece when he's there. There are 43 pieces overall, so even with *very* fortunate RNG, I think it would take a few years to get them all without trading, and that's not even guaranteed.

 

[Red Cat]

I am looking for the following fish

Spoiler: Fish Checklist

• Pop-Eyed Goldfish
• Giant Snakehead
• Char
• Golden Trout
• String Fish
• Nibble Fish
• Angel Fish
• Rainbow Fish
• Arowana
• Gar
• Arapaima
• Saddle Bichir
• Sturgeon
• Sea Butterfly
• Surgeonfish
• Napoleeon Fish
• Blowfish
• Tuna
• Blue Marlin
• Giant Trevally
• Mahi-Mahi
• Saw Shark
• Barreleye

I haven't even gone through with how many bugs I still need

March is the best month for fishing in the SH, so you can knock off most of your list in this month alone. Most of your missing fish can be caught in the 9 P.M. to 4 A.M. time slot, so I'd prioritize that time for fishing. Some of the small river fish can only be found in the 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. time slot (nibble fish and rainbow fish), but don't waste your time looking in the ocean during the daytime hours. The blowfish, tuna, sturgeon, and sea butterfly are all in the ocean or in an outlet in the 9 P.M. to 4 A.M. time slot in June, so search for them at that time. The stringfish can also be caught during that same time, but if you want to optimize your search, the TT/wait for September to catch it since you can find all of the clifftop fish (char, golden trout, stringfish) at that time. You'll have to TT to catch the giant snakehead and Napoleon fish anytime soon. February 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. is the best time to knock both of those out.

If you are going to use bait, save it for the pier fish as those are the hardest ones to find. Everything else can be found normally without taking a ton of time. It's easier to find river fish by having several small nearby pools of water connected to waterfalls instead of having one large river. That way you can run from pool to pool scaring off any fish you don't need instead of roaming up and down an entire river looking for fish. Going to mystery islands can also help, but they are more difficult to maneuver around, so I just prefer fishing on my own island.

Other than that, there's no other advice I have other than to be persistent. They will all show up eventually if you are looking at the right place and time. It helps to try to remember what places, times, and sizes to look out for in a month so you can do other stuff besides fishing and go after a fish if you find one that happens to meet the criteria of one you are missing.

 

[angelcat621]

I finished the art and fossil sections quite some time ago and am close to completing the sea creatures. I have a good chunk of the bugs as well, except the tree dwellers. I kept scaring them off. Didn't know I could sneak up to them by holding down A button. As for the fish section, I do not like fishing on this game at all. I'm only up to 80 on Cast Master and that's only by savescumming. I tend to panic and lose the fish too soon. Blathers will be waiting for awhile to finish that part of the museum. Good luck to you if you decide to go for it. Everyone goes at their own pace.

 

[Pyoopi]

I always find that when you actively hunt for fish and bugs, it'll feel like a grind because you're so hyper focused on one task.
Whereas if you hunt more leisurely, you'll eventually catch the creature. Like for the cicada shell, I wasn't hunting for it actively and then found it on one of the trees. I found a second one later on when I was just musing around.

Then when the beetles were active on my island, I really went ham. It wasn't only for the museum completion but I wanted the models as well.

I get it that doesn't work well with everyone to set aside 3+ hours on fish/bug hunting. Maybe playing with a friend and voice chatting/typing will ease the feeling of the grind?

 

[LambdaDelta]

and here the art wing is my only major thing left that will take a while

mainly since I don't time travel or hunt down what I'm missing from people, so it's just redd rng fun

(I do have one last deep-sea critter left too, but that will be cleared out next month)

 

[Roxxy]

I don’t think I will ever finish my museum either. I am absolutely useless at bug hunting (doesn’t help that I run away from tarantulas ) I am ok with butterflies and bugs on the trees. I think that i will concentrate on fishing and diving for the time being.

I am pleased that I have completed the fossils and the art section but it just makes me want it all finished now

 

[Tiffany]

I just finished mine. I look up all fish and bugs available each month and write them down along with times,locations and shadow sizes. This helps me keep track of what i need to work on for that month. I make sure to get everything available for that month before it ends. Some fish/bugs are harder to get but you can get them. Some fish are easier to get with bait too. Knowing what you still need to catch and when/where its available really helps.

 

[Tiffany]

Just wanted to add that some fish will only spawn at the rivermouth, holding ponds, pier(this is usually rare ones like mahi mahi) and some only spawn in the 2nd tier river/waterfall so if you removed that part of your river you will have to go to a friends island to catch those. This applies to bugs too. the snail only spawns in rain and there is a butterfly that only spawns around blue/black flowers. also the flies and ants are all year/all day but flies spawn on trash/rotten turnips and ants spawn on good turnips/candy.

 

[LuluLove102]

Yeah, honestly I don’t think I’ll ever finish the art section! I have something like 12 pieces and Red visits rarely. The last two times he had duplicates as the only original piece of art so yeah...also, I don’t time travel cause I really don’t like the idea. Also, I just found out that the only fish I am missing at the moment is the blown fish, which was available in February guess I’ll have to wait another year

 

[bluecherries]

heres a tip-use fish bait. i caught two coelacanths in a day using fishbait so if you dig up enough manila clams you’ll definitely be set.

 

[Imbri]

My art section is the only thing I have left. I could go buy the pieces, but I have rules about museum donations. All critters had to be caught by me, all fossils had to be dug up by me, and all art has to be bought from Redd. Most of that has been done when he comes to my island, but I have bought when I've visited a friend's.

I've bought fakes for decorating, but the real stuff I want to collect on my own. Even if that takes several years.

 

[mollyduck]

Also keep in mind that if you want to complete the Nook Miles achievements you’re going to have to craft a lot of tools (I should have stuck with flimsy fishing rods from the start) and catch a lot of fish. So you’re still progressing towards a goal even if you haven’t caught the rarer fish yet. You can also save your fish and work towards getting models from Chip.

Crafting bait is a grind but if you do 20-30 a day and fish at the right location/time you will get them eventually.

 

[ivorystar]

Always go to the mystery island for the fishes! Bring lot of bait. I always catch the rarest fish really fast this way. Good luck! You can do it

 

[JemAC]

I quite often feel like my museum will never be completed but then I just remind myself that I can take my time and eventually I'll collect everything for it. I've completed the fossils, fish and sea creature donations but am missing a few summer bugs and quite a lot of art which I think will be the hardest to collect so the fact you've completed that section of the museum is a great achievement!

As others have said the best advice I can give is to use fish bat whenever fishing to help complete the fish section and visit mystery islands if you can as they can be quite good for catching the rarer fish. I've struggled with some of the bugs, mainly the ones from the coconut trees, but as long as you have enough trees around the island and are at the right time for them to spawn then I quite often just make loops around the island past all the trees for a while. I don't always find the bug I'm looking for but I usually find a new bug will spawn quite quickly on a tree if I check them enough during the time frame, collecting them all can be hard work but given enough time it's definitely possible, you're a good way through completing your museum and I'm sure the other sections will come together

 

[LunarMako]

I probably would have by now if I didn't have to start my island over. Now I am waiting for the times I can catch the fish I know I already caught one before. Plus I don't always focus on the fish because I was so busy focusing on the island.

 

[deana]

Honestly same I do make a bit of an effort to catch new creatures when the season changes but ultimately it's the diving creatures that are basically impossible for me to catch. I just seem to never improve no matter how much I practice. But I don't really mind the museum being incomplete, it just means I'll always have something to continue to try to work on, which is nice to have for if you want to take a hiatus from the game (at least I think it's nice to have a project to come back to)

 

[Jam86]

i thought this tbh, i TT to get most of the stuff but i struggled to get that stick bug for ages, it blends with the tree so well that i kept running past and scaring it off
i managed to get it in the end, then after i thought i finally completed the museum, i found out i never donated the tiger butterfly and that one decided to disappear for a week

i got everything now and i truely believe that if i can complete the museum, then everyone else definately can lol

 

[Baroque]

It was the opposite for me: I finished the fossil section very fast and the bug and fish sections were going well enough since I typically just waited for the start of the month to hunt down the new critters we could now capture but my art section was advancing at a dang snail's pace.

Then I got a new full-time job and I knew I would have time to play as much as I did before so I just... bought the remaining art pieces from here. I think from Jhine? Anyway yeah, the museum's completely done now. Just waiting for Brewster to show up, hopefully :')

 

[Inko]

I have the Art and Fossil sections of my museum complete but the Fish and Bug section is taking forever I have a checklist of all the fish I need left to get and I follow the time of day, locations and months to find these fish and I am having no luck at all I just keep getting the same fish over and over again

And I still haven't bothered to try looking at what bugs I still need

Does anyone have any tips ?

I am looking for the following fish

Spoiler: Fish Checklist

• Pop-Eyed Goldfish
• Giant Snakehead
• Char
• Golden Trout
• String Fish
• Nibble Fish
• Angel Fish
• Rainbow Fish
• Arowana
• Gar
• Arapaima
• Saddle Bichir
• Sturgeon
• Sea Butterfly
• Surgeonfish
• Napoleeon Fish
• Blowfish
• Tuna
• Blue Marlin
• Giant Trevally
• Mahi-Mahi
• Saw Shark
• Barreleye

I haven't even gone through with how many bugs I still need

The Sturgeon spawns at the river mouth leading into the ocean, you can throw fishbait into the river mouth and you might get lucky.
What I normaly do if I want to catch Sturgeons: go to a Mystery Island, you need one with a river mouth leading into the ocean. The Sturgeon is counted as a riverfish and spawns at the river mouth. On a Mystery Island there only can be 4 riverfish at the same time , if there is no large shadow at the river mouth you have to run around and scare away the other riverfish. Repeat it until there is a very large shadow at the river mouth.
If you actively try to catch certain fishes you need to know when they can spawn, where they can spawn and the shadow size. If you want to catch a specific fish your best chance would be to scare away all other fish with the wrong shadow size.