NEW YORK − As the late-summer sun set over central Brooklyn one recent evening, neighbors quietly gathered on a street corner, looking with wonder at goldfish and glittering trinkets. The object of their gaze, the Bed-Stuy fish pond, is the size of a single sidewalk square, but has captured the hearts of more than a million social media users.
“I’d say we are breaking scientific ground and putting new things in the almanac by doing this,” Floyd Washington, one of the creators of the pond,
The pond, known as the Bed-Stuy Aquarium, feels like a never-before-seen hybrid of urban street architecture and, well, a fish tank or aquarium. The pond’s water is replenished by a small, steady stream from a fire hydrant at its center. As of mid-September, the Bed-Stuy Aquarium had been going for about six weeks, surrounded by blocks of brownstones, bodegas, schools, restaurants and the rest of New York City’s bustle.
“It’s not where you’d think it ought to be,” said Washington, 43, who works as a repairman at a grocery store directly across from the pond.
Fans of the pond and naysayers want to know what will happen to the fish when fall progresses and winter arrives. Washington said he and the other creators have a plan, including a goal of re-opening the pond seasonally every spring and summer.
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When did the Bed-Stuy fish pond start?
The TikTok-famous fish pond used to be just a puddle filling a large gap in the sidewalk − until residents from the block decided during the first week of August to populate the water with goldfish from a local pet store just blocks away, Washington said.
Before, the muddy sidewalk pit had been an eyesore, Washington said. Now, the whimsy and joy sparked by the fish pond, which is only a few inches deep, is having an outsized effect on the community, Bed-Stuy residents told USA TODAY.
“I like the color and I like the stories,” said Joe Howard, who drove by in a friend’s convertible one recent Friday night to see the fish.
Howard, a singer who came to New York 30 years ago to record music, took photos of the fish and said he may write a story inspired by them. Originally from Savannah, Georgia, Howard said the pond’s aesthetics reminded him of old seaport towns.
“We had a crazy idea and it blossomed into something bringing people together, so we are not trying to put that light out or stop that shine,” Washington said.
Throughout August and September, the site’s beauty grew, as it was decorated with signs, flowers and a miniature fence providing a barrier between the fish and their surroundings. On Google Maps, it garners the label “Cultural Landmark.”
Pond attracts vandals, complaints
On the night of Aug. 26, vandals attempted to destroy the pond by filling it with debris, and unfortunately a few fish died as a result, Washington said.
