Makeshift goldfish aquarium under leaking Brooklyn hydrant prompts rescue heist

A group of Brooklyn men created a makeshift goldfish pond in a puddle pooling under a leaky hydrant, delighting some locals, and concerning others who fear the fish will not survive.

Longtime Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Hajj-Malik Lovick, 47, said he and some friends were tired of looking at an often-leaking hydrant on Hancock Street near Tompkins Avenue – and decided to reinvent the inch-and-a-half-deep puddle below it into a community aquarium.

“It was like a condemned Johnny pump. Why not make it better than leaving things that look broken? Why not fix it?” Lovick said as he sat in a lawn chair guarding the pond.

The community pond has expanded, Lovick said, with people coming from different boroughs and even Connecticut to contribute.

“People give us stuff. … They drop off shells. They drop off fish, food, stuff like that,” he said. “We just do better and better with it every day for the kids. They stop by, they love it, and we feel good for what we did for the community, to make it better.”

“(I want to) make it a better place as much as I can,” Lovick said of his neighborhood.

However, news stories and videos of the aquarium circulating on social media have drawn the attention of local animal rights advocates and city officials, who are concerned the fish will not survive under the hydrant.

City Department of Environmental Protection workers have shut the hydrant off several times since Thursday only to find someone continues to turn it back on after they leave, officials said.

“There are real safety concerns with damaged or leaking hydrants; it can impact the availability of water for fire emergencies, and it can impact water pressure and cause supply issues for the neighborhood,” said Beth DeFalco, DEP Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs and Communications. “We love goldfish also, but we know there is a better home for them than on a sidewalk.”

DEP workers have asked the men to rehome the fish, to no avail.

A 29-year-old neighbor who keeps fish as a hobby believes the small tree bed is overpopulated with fish, putting them at risk of catching life-threatening diseases.

“This is not a sustainable project and eventually this fish puddle ‘fish pond’ is going to either be cut off by the city, dry out, or these fish are going to start dying in droves,” said the local woman who gave her name only as Emily.

Lovick said the fish are well taken care of.

“They’ve been living for two weeks now … They’ve been fed every day, three times a day. We take care of them and clean out the pond and make sure there’s no cigarette butts and rubbish,” he said. “The fish been living longer than any goldfish ever lived right now. So there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Experts say the environment poses plenty of risks for the fish.

“There is a possibility they will survive, although it’s certainly not an ideal habitat,” veterinarian Julius Tepper, who runs the Long Island Fish Hospital, told NBC4 New York. “You’ve got issues with pollution that could be a problem. You’ve got issues with predatory birds.”

Emily said she voiced her concerns to one of the fish’s owners Monday when she first ventured to the hydrant. The man dismissed her and declined her offer for tanks to rehome the fish.

In the early morning hours of Wednesday Emily returned with a friend, equipped with plastic bags and a fish net. The pair scooped roughly 35 fish from the tree bed in what animal advocates have dubbed, the “late-night rescue heist.”

Emily said several other smaller rescues were coordinated with other concerned residents on social media, leaving her with 70 goldfish.

Roughly 30 fish were rehomed to locals, while Emily continues to care for the remaining 40.

“Why would you want to steal $8 fish? I told her, ‘I will buy her some fish,’” Lovick said of Emily. “That’s just something for us. And to give back to the kids and back to the neighborhood.”

Now the men guard their pond around the clock and have even installed security cameras to “make sure nobody put their hand in there,” Lovick said.

On Saturday, passersby chimed in, largely in support of the makeshift community pond.

“This fire hydrant has been leaking for a long time,” said 37-year-old block resident Shay. “We have an aquarium now in Bed-Stuy. I think it’s a positive attraction because (the hydrant) was never fixed. So if they’re gonna utilize it in that way for right now, why not? We got bigger fish to fry in Bed-Stuy.”

One woman brought her 1-year-old son to see the colorful fish on Saturday.

“This is his first time and he loves it. He loves fish,” local mother Taylor Evans said. “Might as well bring out the nature in the community.”

Lovick said they plan to distribute the fish to neighborhood kids when temperatures drop in September.

Meanwhile, Emily said she hopes the community can find a sustainable solution to house the well-loved fish, suggesting a container pond in a nearby community garden.

“I just want to see these guys have something nice,” she said, “without having to walk past a puddle of 100 fish gasping in their own waste and dying.”