Single Parent of 3 Finds Dumped Filthy Tank, Gains New Family Member

When you hear about animal rescue you usually think dogs or cats, but a single parent of three from the U.K. has recently gone viral after rescuing a fish that they have now officially made a member of the family.

In a post shared on TikTok on Sunday under the username sharktherescuefish the poster explains that they found the fish tank dumped in an alley, and soon noticed that something moved in there

"So I took it home... and started cleaning it out..." a caption says, as the clip goes on to show the poster cleaning all the different parts of the tank, which among gems and shells included a small size figurine of Spiderman.

After cleaning the tank, which had clearly been neglected for a while, they bought tapsafe, to keep the water clean, and fish food, and gave the pet his own spot in the house.

"I've no idea what kind of fish he is. He seems happy now... I'll buy him some new things soon. I've named him Shark because he's so strong!"

The poster told Newsweek: "I found the fish tank whilst out on a walk with my dogs. Something was flicking about and when I took a closer look I noticed a fish had been left in it. I took the dogs back to the car, removed some of the water as carefully as I could to make it lighter and managed, with difficulty, to get it back to my car.

When they got home, they cleaned the tank out and found a single leopard danio in there.

"The tank was absolutely disgusting, and although you're supposed to leave some water in when cleaning the tank, I just wanted to get that poor fish into cleaner water. The tank didn't have a filter so I bought one, along with many other items.

"It's now day five, he has a whole new life and friends and many kind people have donated to get him a new tank. I never thought I'd care so much about a fish, but here we are."

According to Aquariums at Home, if you own a freshwater tank you should change the water every at least every one to two weeks, depending on how many fish are in the tank at the same time.

They suggest changing about 10 percent of the water if done every week to 25 percent if done every two weeks.

The video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 6.6 million views and 416,500 likes on the platform.

One user, dovahkk277, commented: "I evaluate people for how they treat the most delicate and little beings, you are an angel to me."

Dryotears said: "It might be just a lil fish but you made a real difference for it." And Jordan Turner added: "The red gravel says everything you need to know about previous owner."

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.