This is so sad

[Fishyfanatic]

I am a member of a wedding planning board and this afternoon a thread started that absolutely appalled me. A poster is using Bettas as the centerpiece for the tables. She is putting them in a regular vase with a bouquet of daisies and lilies on top. She said that she will get the fish a few days in advance to set up the center pieces.

Most of the posters are discouraging the practice, but she says that she doesn't care what people think. She is going to do what she wants. THEN, she said that she is going to put a 20 gal tank in the lobby with a 10 gal tank inside it. The 10 gal tank will be where people put their cards. In the 20 gal tank she is going to have 6 or 7 goldfish. She said that she thinks it would be "cool" to watch the fish.

I can't believe that people actually do this with fish. I have never seen this practice before and hope that I never do. Has anyone ever been to an event where this took place?

 

[shawmutt]

Tell her that with that amount of bettas in a wedding chances are that one or more may be dead when their guests sit at their tables.

Nothing puts people in more of a happy mood than a dead fish. You could even stretch it a bit and talk about the lovely smell of dead fish.

 

[Zagz]

I agree it is horrible! Shawnmutt has some good advice. You could also add that probably several of the guests would be appalled at the thought of dead fish at their tables not to mention the cruelty towards the fish.

 

[donttaptheglass]

I went to a wedding once with a "tropical" theme at a country club in North Carolina . . . .no live fish were used, but they put an $10,000 extremely rare royal blue parrot on display (no cage, just sitting on a perch near the entrance to the ballroom) . . . as it turns out, this bird is also quite particular about who touches him as well, and had to be removed when he attempted to remove the eyes of a young drunken gentleman who tried to get to friendly with him.

$1.50 fish or $10,000 bird is immaterial . . . .its wrong either way.

My wife is good lookin', but I wouldn't rent her out for display . . . .besides . . . she'd succeed in the eye removal thing

 

[BeGiNeR_7]

One of the fish stores near me actually advertises party betta centerpieces. They will provide and set up everything for them. I have also heard of people using them for their wedding and giving them away to one person at each table. I personally prefer to see a fish bowl with colored marbles and a candle floating in it not a fish. I don't know where this trend started but I thought it had gone out of style. Guess not and that's just sad.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Think about it though. Lets say one person from each table takes home the fish. Around here, after the reception the guests usually hit the local bars. So the betta will sit in the bowl in the car for a few hours in the cold. Not to mention being sloshed around in the backseat of the car. OR, the loud music, dancing, lighting, etc.

Hopefully she will discourage the people from doing this. It's so sad.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Where I work, this gentlemen tried to get me to sell him a dozen feeder goldfish to put in individual bowls for a party he was having with his friends. He said that afterwards, he'd "just flush them or something", or thrown them in a pond.

Needless to say, I tried to talk him out of it. I guess he got annoyed because he left and came back later to get them when he thought I was gone, but I saw him leaving with them.

There is also a Church who does this annual "treasure hunt" throughout the city with teams of teenagers. One of the things they have to bring back to the church on their hunt is a fish, because it was God's food, or something. I "hear" from the kids that when they get back to the church, someone has to eat the fish in order to symbolize taking food that was a gift from God.
Now...when the first team said this, I didn't believe them. When the second or third team came around that day, I read their "rules" paper, and sure enough...when they completed the "hunt" it wasn't over until someone ate the fish.

Poor fish.

 

[DeFeKt]

did my post not get posted due to an outage? (not sure on who's side)

Matt

 

[lyquidphyre]

You could always tell her to get those glass floating fish http://www.gelstuff.com/fish-floating-on-a-bubble.html

That way she either either keep him in memory of her wedding
She wouldn't have to worry about dead fish
And if she or her guests kept them, they would last forever instead of dying a few days later.
And it might even be cheaper.

Also, tell her how tacky it is =oP

 

[sdellin]

Okay, I see two things right up front that point to the fact that some people are just plain stupid (hope that didn't offend anyone)...

1- Obvious, the idea itself is selfish and stupid.

2- Bettas usually just sit there. How much fun is that to watch? Let's go to a wedding, a happy, lively event, mind you... get drunk... sit around the table and watch a betta "just sit"??? Oh, I can't wait, it'll be so fun! Maybe later we can have snail races!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

As of this morning she is still planning on having the center pieces. Some people you just can't teach.

 

[Guest]

well if you think about it this way.. the bettas sit in a pet shop in about a cup of water in little plastic bowls. At least she is putting them in a larger vase and some of them may have decent homes afterwards. At least she's not putting goldfish in the centerpiece, at least the betta's can breath air!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Yeah but what about the loud music from the DJ, flashing lights, table shaking, and individuals who think it is "fun" to play with the fish. One poster mentioned that her cousin did it and some immature individuals put salt and beer in the vases. The rest of them she flushed.

 

[Guest]

Yeah but what about the loud music from the DJ, flashing lights, table shaking, and individuals who think it is "fun" to play with the fish. One poster mentioned that her cousin did it and some immature individuals put salt and beer in the vases. The rest of them she flushed.

thats sad

 

[DeFeKt]

I'm going to say my opinion openly and truthfully and leave it at that.
you can't live life with "what ifs"
what if someone puts beer or salt in it? What if they all get good homes and live happily ever after in a lovely little fairy tale land with green pastures and lovely little furry animals bouncing around?
have you ever put your ear up to the side of your fish tank and listened to the noise your fish have to put up with? pumps, filters, air pumps. something tells me that some bassy music and some doof doof doof won't make to much difference. How many weddings have the tables right next to the speakers from the dj?

One poster mentioned that her cousin did it and some immature individuals put salt and beer in the vases. The rest of them she flushed.

Note "One poster", so maybe thats just the way they deal with things? good for them.
poor fish, but good for them.
Should we all stop eating fish and animals because one person thinks slaughtering them is barbaric?

6 or 7 small goldfish would live quite happily in 10gallon space for a few hours provided enough air. sounds like a great idea.
I think Ashley is exactly right with the bettas. Can't be any worse then having to live in a glass in a lfs for your lifetime.

Sure you might think using fish as a centrepiece is sad.
What I think is sadder is ridiculing someones creativity and wishes, to make there wedding day the best they can/want. which is what they deserve.

At the risk of being hypocritical, I do love this site dearly, but for a multi-national/cultural site, people sure pass bad judgement about others very quickly.
Have a think about it, I think it's a tad immature, don't you?

Thats all I have to say about this matter, see you in a happier post.

Disappointed regards,

Matthew

 

[Jchillin]

did my post not get posted due to an outage? (not sure on who's side)
or was it deleted and further re-assuring my opinion?

Matt

No posts are ever deleted, only edited if it is a violation of the UA. I would say it was never posted.

 

[Jchillin]

Sure you might think using fish as a centrepiece is sad.
What I think is sadder is ridiculing someones creativity and wishes, to make there wedding day the best they can/want. which is what they deserve.

At the risk of being hypocritical, I do love this site dearly, but for a multi-national/cultural site, people sure pass bad judgement about others very quickly.
Have a think about it, I think it's a tad immature, don't you?

Thats all I have to say about this matter, see you in a happier post.

Disappointed regards,

I have no idea what brought this on but everyone is entitled to their opinions. People will feel affected by what is percieved as an intentional inhumane act.

Let's try to keep things in perspective.

 

[DeFeKt]

yep turns out it was an outage on my side, maintanence to work server, cheers.

keyword "percieved".

 

[fishfreek]

There is also a Church who does this annual "treasure hunt" throughout the city with teams of teenagers. One of the things they have to bring back to the church on their hunt is a fish, because it was God's food, or something. I "hear" from the kids that when they get back to the church, someone has to eat the fish in order to symbolize taking food that was a gift from God.

That disturbs me alot. I can see the symbolisum in it all but there are much better ways of doing this. How bout having the treasure hunt have them get a small amount of fish from a grocery store and then prepair this when they return to eat vs getting a live fish to either kill just prior to or force a youth to eat the fish alive.

 

[lmw80]

Defekt...I understand some people may take the bettas home and properly care for them. The ratio of which bettas are cared for or which bettas die horribly is unknown, but it is the fact that these helpless animals are subjected to those odds that upsets me.