Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — An urban pond where goldfish used to swim under a fire hydrant flowing from New York has been replaced by a new improvised aquarium, days after the city unceremoniously paved the old one for safety reasons.

Industrious Brooklyn workers took waterproof liner, bath tiles, concrete blocks and gravel and fashioned a new urban pond into a tree bed next to the now-repaired hydrant.

By Friday afternoon, about 40 goldfish were walking around the new enclosures, which were built Wednesday and feature brightly colored fake plants, rocks and other aquarium decorations.

Pedro Zambrana, a 29-year-old visiting from Barcelona, ​​was among dozens of people who stopped to watch and take photos.

“It’s so cool,” he said, adding that a visit to the curiosity in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood topped his itinerary for his weeklong stay in the city.

Devang Shah, one of the local residents who helps manage the pond, said volunteers soon hope to equip the aquarium with a solar-powered filtration system to replace the current battery-powered one.

They also need to purchase a heating system before winter sets in and have visions of creating a live stream so their fans around the world can tune in, he said.

The so-called Bed-Stuy Aquarium is searchable on Google Maps and has its own own Instagram and TikTok accounts managed by Shah and other residents.

But the 44-year-old architect complained that the aquarium was easier to manage under the flowing hydrant. The constant flow from the hydrant had provided a constant supply of fresh water, so there wasn’t really a need for a filtration system, he explained.

“They seemed happier there,” Shah said, gesturing to the hydrant surrounded by a now-clean slab of concrete.

Passersby watched him carefully as he sprinkled fish food into the water, cleaned up fallen leaves and took water quality readings.

Shah said it is the fourth incarnation of the guerrilla pond, which originally formed when the leaking hydrant carved a shallow pool in broken concrete, prompting residents to fill it with store-bought goldfish.

People concerned about well-being of the fish staged a “rescue” during the summer, but determined residents restocked the pool and set up a watch.

The site became more elaborate, with painted benches and chairs and decorations.

There’s even a sign designed to look like an official New York Parks Department plaque affixed to the tree that reads “BEDSTUY AQUARIUM.”

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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.