By Gillian Mohney From ABC News

Thousands of fish are being saved from an abandoned mall in Bangkok after authorities decided to drain water from the empty structure.

The New World Shopping Center in Bangkok has acted as an unlikely aquarium for a decade, according to the Bangkok Post, after locals dumped fish into the flooded building to help cut down on mosquitos.

Last year more locals started to visit the unusual pond and feed the fish after photographs were published of the fish thriving in the empty mall, according to the Post.

This week after more than a decade of neglect, staff from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration office used nets to catch and move out more than 3,000 fish from the mall.

The fish, which included catfish, and black and red tilapia will be released into the wild, according to the Post. Government officials plan to drain the rainwater from the building.

IMAGES:
An abandoned department store is seen flooded in Bangkok, Jan. 13, 2015. Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters
A worker holds a fish inside an abandoned department store in Bangkok, Jan. 13, 2015.Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters
Workers collect fish inside an abandoned department store in Bangkok, Jan. 13, 2015.Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters

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