Do you want to drink your coffee with your feet in ankle-deep water as shoals of colorful fish swim around? If yes, the Sweet Fish Café in Khanom, Thailand, might just be the place for you! This café has managed to create this unique experience for its fish-loving, adventure-craving customers. The Koi Pond café became an internet sensation when a Reddit user posted about this unusual ‘Fish Café’ that showed people sitting in what looked like an enclosed fishpond.

Fascinating? Or just revolting? Here is what we know so far about this bizarre place.

What exactly is the Koi Pond Café?

The café consists of a small room with non-fancy tables and chairs. The wooden floor has ankle-deep water filled with countless colorful fish, mainly Koi, swimming around the entire café floor. Apart from Koi and a few other varieties, they also have fish that nibble on the dead skins, giving it a spa- feel. There is a banner on the wall that reads “Sweet Fishs Café.” The entire place looks a little bizarre and, at the same time, fascinating.

The café is a part of the Ton Tarn Resort and Spa, which is a popular tourist resort in Khanom. Yosamol Jitmung, the owner of the café, wanted to attract customers after the pandemic to boost business. And it worked. He confessed that the inspiration behind the Sweet Fishs Café is the Amix Café in Vietnam which was the pioneer in this theme. He has invested around 400,000 baht, which is around $12,000, and most of it went into the fish and the filtration system.

The café has gone viral, but netizens doubt its hygiene.

Since the post went viral, people have expressed doubts regarding the hygiene and cleanliness of the place. Comments like how the café must smell, how they keep the site clean, or why it should have been a glass floor with the fish below swarmed the Internet.

Jitmung has told a news portal that maintaining the place’s hygiene and ensuring good filtration has been the biggest challenge. As per his account, four large pool filters work 24 hours a day, and his staff puts in fresh water every morning before the café opens to the public and in the evening after the last customer leaves. The visitors also have to take off their shoes, wash their feet, and be barefoot inside the café. They are also advised not to disturb the fish in any way.

What happened to “Amix Coffee” in Vietnam, the inspiration behind the Koi Fish Café?

The first café to explore such a theme was Amix Coffee in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. It had a lot of colorful fish, mostly Japanese Carp, swimming around the entire floor. It was opened by the then by 23-year-old Nguyen Duoc Hoa. The café had two floors, with each floor covering an area of 20 square meters. The water level was up to 25 centimeters deep.

But apart from having to maintain an expensive filtration system to keep the water clean and fresh, the owner, Nguyen, faced a bigger challenge in keeping customers from disturbing the fish, especially families with small children. This, in turn, soon led to negative publicity, and animal rights activists slammed the café for animal abuse. As per Sin Chew Daily, the environment was harmful to the fish, and a few of them were trampled on by customers and died. Under the heavy scrutiny of the public eye and animal activists, Nguyen had to close down the café. Later, he renovated it and put the fish into water tanks to keep them safe.

Have you ever been to a crazy cafe like this one? Share your experiences with us!