Locals outraged after pet owner leaves fish inside aquarium on curb among ‘free’ items

Aussies have been left outraged after a pet owner dumped their fish on the roadside for council clean-up.

A woman was walking through Sydney’s inner-west on Monday when she stumbled across the assortment of “FREE” items on a street in Forest Lodge.

To her horror, the local discovered pet fish were still swimming around inside the unplugged tank in the hot sun with only a small amount of water left for them.

She shared a photo of the tank to the Street Bounty Inner West Facebook page, a popular community site for people to share council kerbside pick-ups and other free items.

“There are fish in the aquarium! Is anyone able to rescue them?” she asked.

People quickly flooded the comments with offers to adopt the abandoned fish and rescue them from an uncertain fate.

“I have (tanks) at my house. Perfectly healthy tanks and would love to take these fish to give them a new home,” one woman replied.

Other people turned their attention to condemn the original owner.

“Holy cr** sometimes we are a pathetic species.”

“Thanks for saving! What is wrong with people,” another commented.

“OMG hope these were rescued! Not cool to leave out in the heat,” a third wrote.

“It shocks me how many people do this to their pet fish. Good on you for the alert! And good on ya to the person who rescued them. Poor lil fellas,” another replied.

An eagle-eyed commenter noticed one of the fish left behind in the tank was a peppermint bristlenose catfish which can cost up to $50-250.

“Those suckers can be expensive,” they commented.

“Most people are good humans, a minority are s***. Previous owners are s***,” another person replied.

Fortunately the local later confirmed, following multiple offers, that the fish had been safely rehomed.

“OMG so happy the lovely angelfish found a good home. Also sad I didn’t see this earlier as I would’ve been super happy to adopt them!,” a local replied.