A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fishtank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations.

TOKYO — A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in southwestern Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fishtank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and set up human cutouts outside the tank.

An aquarium in Japan has come up with a unique and out-of-the-box idea to cheer up its lonely resident sunfish after the facility closed for renovations.

"When an aquarium in Japan closed to the public for restorations, the aquarium's beloved sunfish grew lonely without visitors and lost its appetite — until aquarium staff pasted cutouts with photos of human faces onto the tank," the video caption explains. That's right — they made people! Have you ever seen something so sweet?

The aquarium noted, “We didn't know the cause [of the fish feeling unwell] ... but one of the staff members said, ‘Maybe he's lonely without the visitors?’ "

Japanese aquarium staff used cut-out human companions to cheer up a lonely sunfish, leading to improved health.

How do you perk up a lonely fish? This may sound like the start of a particularly silly joke, but it was a very real challenge faced by staff at a Japanese aquarium when they noticed their sunfish was ailing.

Staff had noticed that the sunfish was showing signs of distress after the aquarium was closed for refurbishment

Staff members believe the sunfish stopped eating when the aquarium was temporarily closed because it was lonely.

The ‘sociable’ fish’s unusual behaviour during the temporary closure of the aquarium prompted the unorthodox intervention by staff

A solitary sunfish at an aquarium lost its appetite, began banging into its fish tank days after the facility closed for renovations.

A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fish tank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations