New York’s hottest club is: The Bed-Stuy Aquarium

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, told USA TODAY.
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 reopening the pond seasonally every spring and summer.
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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 outsize 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.”
The fish in the pond are goldfish, about an inch long, and mostly orange, with some orange-and-black and a few all-black fish.
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.
The creators responded immediately, Washington told USA TODAY, and quickly restored the pond. Next, the group launched a GoFundMe to rally support and raised about $3,000. The money supported the Bed-Stuy Aquarium backpack giveaway and fish adoption event over Labor Day weekend, which saw about 100 kids get a new bag for school and a fish of their own − scooped directly from the pond into a glass bowl.
“We’re just doing it out of the kindness of our hearts,” Washington said.
But, some have submitted complaints to the city about the pond, Washington said.
New York City Fire Department Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Jim Long said the department received complaints in August of a leaky hydrant, and firemen responded by shutting off the drip a couple times.
“Hydrants aren’t meant to be on in the running position endlessly,” Long told USA TODAY, explaining that leaky hydrants can lead to low water pressure and need to be turned to the “off” position before being used to power fire department hoses.
Washington said the fire hydrant will be made available in any emergency situation.
“As far as the fish, they’re good, they’re striving, that’s a happy environment right there,” Washington said.
Brooklyn and Queens residents who spoke with USA TODAY said the pond is a good thing because it brings neighbors together, makes children happy and is beautiful to look at.
Throughout the day, people stop and sit on two benches placed on either side of the pond for a moment of serenity amid their busy lives. Some, like Hara Limansah, have made the pond part of their daily routine.
“People go out of their way to come by, it’s a good little place to perch and watch life happen,” said Limansah, who stops by the pond for five minutes each morning on her way to work at a hospital psychiatric ward, a job she said can be “really stressful.”
“It’s an oasis in a city that can be very ugly, we see a lot of ugly things happen in New York, but this is a moment of beauty amidst all the chaos,” Limansah, 34, told USA TODAY.
Sharik Atkinson, a film director who lives nearby, also said she comes to the pond most days.
“It grounds me,” she told USA TODAY. “It’s a good way to start my day, just seeing the life that can happen by chance.”
Charlotte Dunn brings her 15-month-old son to look at the pond, which immediately captured the boy’s attention one evening as he sat in his stroller − his eyes growing wide at the sight of the darting orange fish.
“There’s so much going on here, there’s so much care put into all of this,” Dunn, 40, said. “That’s why I bring him by.”
People in cars and on bikes stop in the street and on the sidewalk to look at the pond, leading to increased traffic at the intersection.
People are stopping to talk on a street corner they would have just walked past before, said Levi Collins, 25, a cashier at Chicky’s General Store, which is one door down from the pond.
“The stopping is the spark for conversation,” Collins said.
Locals who love the pond told USA TODAY they’re invested in its future.
Washington said he and the other creators may apply for a permit from the city to ensure the pond can stay permanently, including through the winter, when he hopes his team can erect a plexiglass around the water to maintain its temperature. If that can’t happen, Washington said, the fish will be moved to someone’s home during the winter and brought back to the sidewalk in the spring of 2025.
As summer officially turns to fall on Sunday, the pond’s immediate future is growing more uncertain.
“That’s why I’m making it a point to come every day now because it’s such a beautiful thing that is so community led,” Atkinson said.