A furious family claim contractors turned the heating up in their home after a flood accidentally boiling their five goldfish alive.
Emmaline Green, 46, says her daughter is heartbroken after the death of her pets as the workers tried to dry out the property.
The problems begun in their four-bed home in Thetford, Norfolk, in May when a toilet depressor remained stuck overnight.
They say the temperature was boosted to 50C while they moved out after being hurried out of the door - but their decision killed daughter Beatrix's five beloved fish.
The mum-of-three asked the specialist team to move the animals somewhere cool - but says they put the fish in a bedroom, before switching on humidifiers.
The family left instructions to move the fish to the carport before the industrial heaters dried out their home.
But the GP and her partner Hadrian Holland, 33, returned to find them all lifeless in their aquarium.
They then had to break the devastating new to 10-year-old Beatrix what had happened and after breaking the bad news she refused to return home.
The little girl named her pets Mr Big Fish, Good, Bad, Ugly as well as Darth Vader and her mum says she still can't talk about their deaths months on.
Mrs Green told The Sun that the dry-out attempt also broke their TV, as well as damaging furniture and doors.
She said: "We found the fish just floating in their tank. They didn’t stand a chance.
“The one that broke my daughter’s heart was Mr Big Fish. He wasn’t just a fish to her, he was a friend.
“We had him for six years after she won him at a fairground.
"I sat her down and told her in and she just wept and wept - I’ll never forgive them for that, and for how they’ve treated us during this incredibly difficult time."
The mum told The Mirror: "It was the insurance company Royal Sun Alliance who hired the contractors to dry the house that killed fish.
"We were bundled out of house in 20 minutes and were told they would look after them.
"People are saying it’s our fault as builders don’t look after fish. They gave us no choice and pushed us out of our house. "
Insurer Royal Sun Alliance apologised for the family's distress and claimed it had offered compensation.
They said the firm would look to learn from what they called a “complex case”.
