Trendy NYC neighborhood is torn apart after local resident decided to create goldfish pond in VERY unusual location

A Brooklyn neighborhood is conflicted over a makeshift fish pond meant to bring the community together - but instead led some residents cry 'animal cruelty.'

Bedford-Stuyvesant residents decided to turn a leaky fire hydrant at the corner of Tompkins Avenue and Hancock Street into an aquarium of sorts.

Video shows dozens of goldfish swimming in the shallow waters along with debris in the sidewalk tree pit.

Jequan Irving, 47, and his neighbors bought 100 common goldfish from a nearby pet store for $16 and dumped them into the pool of fire hydrant water dubbing it the 'Bed-Stuy Goldfish Pond.'

'We all just came together to do something different for the community. We decided to spice it up,' Irving told The New York Times.

'It's the lowest-maintenance fish that you can use. We're going to put some algae in here, underground lights in here.'

However, the presence of the fish has sparked a debate about animal cruelty and gentrification in the historically black neighborhood.

Two neighborhood residents, Emily Campbell and Max David, carried out what they called a 'heist' to rescue some of the fish on Wednesday. 

Using nets and plastic bags, they pulled about 30 fish from the two-inch deep waters. 

'I'm very aware of the optics of a white yuppie coming here and telling this man who's lived in the neighborhood his whole life that he doesn't know what he's doing,' Campbell told the Associated Press.

'I do sympathize with that. I just don't want to watch 40 fish suffocate in a puddle from their own waste.'

'We tried to explain to them that we're on the same side, we love the idea of having the fish for the neighborhood, unfortunately it's harmful to the fish themselves,' David said.

Irving and his neighbors insist they are not abusing the fish and they take turns making sure they are cared for.

'We bought these fish, and we fixed up this little spot, using our hard-earned money,' Irving said. 'And they came and stole them.' 

Residents said they feed the fish three times per day and take shifts watching over them.

'I feel like we're helping the goldfish,' resident Hajj-Malik Lovick, 47, said. 'These people came here and just want to change things.'

Veterinarian Julius Tepper, who runs the Long Island Fish Hospital, told NBC New York there are dangers to keep the fish in the makeshift pond.

'You’ve got issues with pollution that could be a problem. You've got issues with predatory birds,' Tepper said.

'There is a possibility they will survive, although it's certainly not an ideal habitat.'

Department of Environmental Protection crews came on Thursday to shut of the trickling fire hydrant, but Irving quickly returned to unseal the valve.

'Once the temperature and everything starts changing, we are going to take them out and give them to kids in the community,' he said.