Surveillance footage capturing the moment the fish tank ruptured Photo: Screenshot from media reports

The owner of numerous rare, precious ornamental fish, amused the public for an upbeat perspective as after the glass tank burst and several fish died, he had two of the deceased fish cooked and invited close friends to enjoy a "meal worth hundreds of thousands of yuan," (roughly tens of thousands of US dollars).

The story happened in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu Province, where a large fish tank in the owner's office, after being used for five years, reached its structural breaking point after its sealant degraded over time and the tank filled up to capacity.

Du, a close friend of the tank owner, said the tank had long housed an array of premium rare ornamental fish: eight golden and red arowanas measuring 60 to 65 centimeters in length, three tiger fish, two black-and-white pearl stingrays, and one Satanoperca. 

The collective worth of the entire school of fish exceeded 300,000 yuan ($44,397), said Du.

The tank burst at just past six in the morning, with water surging out quickly, and the office's staff did not discover the incident until around eight o'clock when they arrived for work, by which the window for rescue had long closed, domestic news site gmw.cn reported.

Emergency efforts saved only one golden arowana, one black-and-white pearl stingray and three tiger fish; all the rest died, the report said.

Although these precious fish had died, the owner maintained a positive and resilient attitude. In a video he posted on short-video platform Douyin, the owner said, "What cannot be saved should not go to waste," and sent two of the fish to a restaurant and invited friends for a feast on the fish.

According to videos posted by several of the owner's friends, the group joked that they were having a "meal worth several hundred thousand yuan" and commenting that the fish was "not bad," per gmw.cn.

In the footage shared by the owner, the group also raised their glasses to toast a fresh chapter from the loss of the fish. 

Du said he and the owner have long been aquarium enthusiasts, so their reaction to the tank rupture was relatively composed, adding that they will restock the tank with new fish in the future.


Global Times