THOUSANDS of tropical and cold water fish have been saved from certain death thanks to the rapid response of an Oldham electrician.

Fishman Aquatics owner Reece Bloomfield has just taken delivery of a new batch of fish at on Saturday when the electricity in his Yorkshire Street shop failed.

The power failure meant oxygenators which serve the tanks in the aquariums keeping the fish alive were automatically switched off.

If it could not be restored up to 2,000 fish, including many rare and exotic species, would die.

However, when Gavin Howarth, who runs neighbouring business Furniture by Lauren, with his wife, Lauren, popped in to say good morning, help was quickly at hand.

“Reece looked panic stricken,” said Gavin. “He was trying to find out what the problem was himself, but I suggested calling a sparky and he agreed.”

Enter stage left, 53-year-old electrician Brad Williams, who runs BDW Electrical Services, who was on the scene within 15 minutes.

“I found a socket which had tripped out the circuit and managed to get the electricity supply going again,” said Brad. “Reece certainly appreciated what I did, because he said it had saved his fish and probably his business.”

Reece, who launched his business only eight weeks ago, agreed when he told The Oldham Times: “I had just had a large batch of fish delivered. Without power running the filters don’t work. Without them breaking the surface tension of the water, the fish would run out of oxygen and they would die.

“It turned out that there was one plug socket in a bad condition which had moisture in it causing the supply to fail.

“Brad had it sorted within an hour and a half which was quick enough for non of the fish to be lost.”

Fishman Aquatics specialises in all kinds of tropical, rare and cold water fish, including the Wild Caught Discus from Brazil and Peru and the Australian Stonefish and the African Pike.

Reece added: “I’m so grateful to Brad and for what he did. His response was amazing. As far as I’m concerned he’s the greatest man in the world. I’ve sent his business card all over Facebook and I’m telling everyone how good he is.”