How to get rid of fish&insects in villager's houses?

[Ponyu]

Hello, I have a question. Is there any way to make villagers get rid of random fish/insects in their houses?

I don't care about a little goldfish or fly, but I am really annoyed by certain huge fish! I made the mistake of giving both Fauna and Freckles a huge fish when they asked for it in the very beginning of the game. Ever since then (< 6 months), they have displayed those things in their respective houses. Each fish tank takes up 2x2 spaces, and I want them to get rid of them! But they always say they're their favorites. I tried sending them big furniture (a classic bed for Fauna and a bathtub for Freckles), but it didn't work out.

Help please?

 

[faerie]

You could try mailing the furniture that size that you wouldn't mind in their house? Thats what I have to do every time I give them a shark lol
edit: Furniture that matches their likes likes fauna likes things on here:
http://www.thonky.com/animal-crossing-new-leaf/filtered-items/?style=Safe&color=beige&disliked=Rock
or you could customize it, they seem to use those more if you mail them and they are customised, just keep trying

 

[Hype]

Just keep sending them furniture. I think that's the only way you will be able to get them to switch it out unless they happen to decide to sell it to you eventually.

 

[Ponyu]

Thank you both. I'll try to keep sending them furniture they might like then. Freckles actually managed to squeeze in the giant bathtub next to her giant sunfish, so she has two 2x2 items right now. Stubbornly clinging to her pet.

 

[beffa]

Hahahaha I know how you feel :c Freckles has that huge ocean sunfish, a horse mackerel, a frog(?) and a 2x2 fish in her house n____n I sent her a huge alpine table and she put the horse mackerel and a frog on it -.- I gave up.

 

[aetherene]

Sometimes they'll ask for you to replace a piece of furniture in their house. It can be an insect or a fish. Or if you're lucky, when you're on this request, catch them when they're inside their home and when you give them the item to replace it, they'll replace the fish with the item you gave them and then give you the fish or insect. xD It can happen.

 

[Bear_Crossing]

Or if you visit their house you can buy it from them..

 

[aetherene]

Not with fish and insects. They refuse to sell them because they are their pets. They just tell you to catch your own.

 

[beffa]

Not with fish and insects. They refuse to sell them because they are their pets. They just tell you to catch your own.

Yeah, just in case you haven't caught the fish in their home (like the ocean sunfish is already in Freckles' home before you give her anything anyway) and you donate them.

 

[Bear_Crossing]

Not with fish and insects. They refuse to sell them because they are their pets. They just tell you to catch your own.

Really? I visited Merengue's house once and bought her sea bass...

 

[aetherene]

Really? I visited Merengue's house once and bought her sea bass...

In the 800+ hours I've played this game, I've never been able to buy any fish or insect from another villager in their house. If it's on a table or on top of something, they will never sell it. If it is on the floor, they will tell me that it's precious to them and to catch my own if I try to buy it.

The only way to exchange an item for a villager's fish/insect is when they ask you to replace the particular item or get any item for their house and then give it to them when they are inside their house. They can replace it right then and there with what you gave them and then they'll give you the old item.

If you're really lucky, you can either send it to them in a letter or put the item up at Retail and then convince them to buy it and they might replace the fish with the new item.

 

[Bear_Crossing]

In the 800+ hours I've played this game, I've never been able to buy any fish or insect from another villager in their house. If it's on a table or on top of something, they will never sell it. If it is on the floor, they will tell me that it's precious to them and to catch my own if I try to buy it.

The only way to exchange an item for a villager's fish/insect is when they ask you to replace the particular item or get any item for their house and then give it to them when they are inside their house. They can replace it right then and there with what you gave them and then they'll give you the old item.

If you're really lucky, you can either send it to them in a letter or put the item up at Retail and then convince them to buy it and they might replace the fish with the new item.

Merengue's Sea Bass was on the floor, replacing her minimalist table.
I'm not lying or anything, I have bought it from her when I went to visit her house. She's never mentioned anything about the fish being precious to her, or being her 'pet'.
I reset my town recently, but I remember buying a sea bass from Merengue earlier on this month...

 

[beffa]

Merengue's Sea Bass was on the floor, replacing her minimalist table.
I'm not lying or anything, I have bought it from her when I went to visit her house. She's never mentioned anything about the fish being precious to her, or being her 'pet'.
I reset my town recently, but I remember buying a sea bass from Merengue earlier on this month...

That would not work. Honestly unless you have SC proof I don't believe that. The game assumes you haven't caught the fish yet and wouldn't let you simply 'buy' an insect or fish you have not manually caught yourself. Merengue probably asked you for something to replace the sea bass, and gave you the sea bass as a reward.

 

[aetherene]

If I could buy any of my villager's fishes when I visited, I would. They're awful and ugly in their houses. But they never let me buy them.

 

[PandaBerryInSpace]

I once had Puddles give me a moray eel -- she asked me for furniture to replace it, and she was in her house when I gave it to her. But yeah, some things villagers just won't let you buy, and fish is definitely one of them.

 

[Bear_Crossing]

That would not work. Honestly unless you have SC proof I don't believe that. The game assumes you haven't caught the fish yet and wouldn't let you simply 'buy' an insect or fish you have not manually caught yourself. Merengue probably asked you for something to replace the sea bass, and gave you the sea bass as a reward.

So, are you implying I'm lying?
I don't have screenshot proof because why would I need to? I deleted my town and all of my screenshots with it, and I wouldn't screen shot something that boring anyway.
I know what happened in my town. Why would I make up something like that? She genuinely said I could purchase her Sea Bass, nothing more to it, nothing less.
I remember it clearly. Why would I lie about that, anyway?

 

[Silversea]

Roscoe had 3 eels in his house for a while. It was a little amusing. I never realized how many I gave him.

Traditionally fish and bugs have never been purchaseable from villagers, and villagers never traded back fish unless you gave them to them originally, however New Leaf has reversed a few changes so I wouldn't be surprised.

A villager gave me a seashell the other day, that's a first for me in the whole series.

 

[Nunnafinga]

My Nan refuses to part with her annoyingly loud cicada.A few days ago I she asked for a wharf roach and I thought she would replace that stupid cicada but she got rid of the thing next to the cicada and put the roach there instead.Pompom asked for an ocean fish three times last week and she already had two fish displayed.Now her house looks like a friggin' Sea World exhibit.

 

[Ponyu]

I see I'm not alone in this! :/ I've also never been able to buy fishes or insects when visiting. I think I'll just keep on sending them furniture and (sadly) refusing their requests for certain large fish.

Does anybody know if they would accept the same item twice? I know Ankha, for instance, has double items in her original house, but once when Vesta asked me to replace her spinning wheel with something and I offered her a classic clock, she refused and said she'd like something she doesn't already have.

 

[Twisk]

If you're patient, you can eventually get rid of them. With one of my neighbors, she had three fish in her house at one time, but now she has none. I just stopped helping her catch fish/bugs, but I did continue helping her with furniture requests. I gave her a tea set, a sunflower, and a teddy bear to replace the fish that were on tables. And I ended up getting her picture, so it's not like my refusing to catch her fish/bugs hurt our friendship too badly.