"I Can't Make This Up" — Tenant Blasts Landlord for Charging $250 Pet Fee for Goldfish

Growing up as kids we all had goldfish. It was almost like a right of passage. We would go to the pet store with our mom, pick out which fish we wanted, and then carry that clear bag filled with water all over the store with pride before we inevitable overfeed it and had to flush it down to porcelain heaven.

While most people haven't had pet goldfish in their adult life, most people would take much better care of them now. Goldfish don't take up that much space after all, which is why it's so baffling that one woman's landlord is trying to charge her $250 to have her goldfish.

We break it down the now-viral TikTok video below.

Avianna, who goes by @aviannaa.x on TikTok, posted a video about her landord that has over 251.7K views, 29K likes, and 2,431 comments. People are shocked to say the least.

The video opens with Avianna saying, "Y'all, so tell me why my m------ f------ apartment complex tried to charge me $250 for a fish as a pet fee." She then goes to a green screen to show the texts with her landlord.

The texts thread shows that Avianna's landlord texted, "Please come into the office by 9/8/23 to fill out your pet application along with a $250 money order/ PER pet (limit 2 pets per Unit). This is a ONE TIME FEE."

Avianna says that she ignored this message since she doesn't have a pet. She then double checked her portal to make sure the apartment management received the payment for her rent when she found that the was a balance of $250.

Avianna texted them back to clear up the discrepancy writing, "Goodmorning... I'm confused why my balance is $250 past due when I paid my rent on Sept. 14 for October."

The landlord texted back stating that the $250 was for the pet fee. Avianna responded saying that she didn't have a pet. The landlord then asked if she had a fish. Avianna then asked for them to call her.

The wildest thing about all of this is that this pet fee is for a literal goldfish. No wonder Avianna was so confused. In the TikTok she goes, "Mind y'all, let me show y'all the fish tank... ," and shows the above picture proving that the tank is only 2.5 gallons. Avianna finishes the video asking, "Am I tripping or what?"

The commenters are as flabbergasted as Avianna and us joking, "Is your fish peeing on the carpet???," "It's not a pet. It's a dinner," and "I also have fish in the freezer do I still pay the fee?" clearly poking fun at the obscenity of it all.

We have to agree with everyone. Why in the world would a goldfish be charged a pet fee? It's not like it can damage anything. It sits on the counter or the desk almost like a decoration.

We hope the algorithm brings us back for an update because the audacity is out of control.