Experience using betta fish in centerpieces?

Personally, I think it would be neat.....but where will all of the bettas go after the reception?? There is NO WAY I would take 25+ bettas home with me. Noooo way.

Lol I understand that! We will have probably 10 max at the reception and at least 6 are already spoken for. They will be given to guests who want them along with food, water conditioner, and a care guide. If there are any left they will come home with me.

One of my co-workers suggested having Beta centerpieces, but i just don't want to take 25-30 fish home, as Jamie said lol. I don't have the room for that many fish, but it's a cool idea, and with some help i'm sure you'd be able to pull it off.

maybe go to offbeatbride.com they might have some ideas, i haven't looked personally but they have some different ideas.

I worked a wedding that did this. 3 died throughout the night, they brought extra and we traded them out. If you have someone willing to do that go for it!

Sounds fun! i think one bride was doing gold fish. i dont see how it would be a problem unless yur going to be in like really hot sun ya know

The last wedding I went to had betta fish in vases for centerpieces. It was pretty cool! They had good sized vases with ribbon around them in their colors. They put some blue (I call them) squished marbles and filled them with water. Be sure to get some water treatment drops especially for bettas. They put in the bettas and a little food the night before. They then dropped in some of those waterproof LED lights (also in blue) the day of the wedding. I think those lights last for 24-48 hours, but they did it the day of, just to be sure.

At the end of the evening, people took the centerpieces. We got one too. We still have our little betta! =)

Betas can only be 1 in a bowl, so for centerpieces its kinda... boring? Goldfish are spectacular, however. Now, that said... I've been to DOZENS of bridal shows in the past few years, and I see the fish thing... and every single time those little fishies are discarded. So - if you like the look and don't mind the dead fishies, rock on. If you aren't cool with discarding the little guys, its a bit of a process to make sure you have as many adoptive fish-families as you have tables & fishbowls....

I LOVE this idea! It would be a favor I would actually want to take home.

I think if done right it could be neat, but as stated above its kinda plain. Also remember that candles and fish dont mix.

Wow thanks for all the responses! We plan on bringing "backups" in case the worst happens a few die, I'm really hoping they survive with care. We're planning on treating the water early that day and adding them a few hours before so they have time to get used to the vases.

I did think about goldfish (or even guppies) as they would be beautiful, but I'd rather not have fish dying all through the night. It seems like goldfish are more sensitive? I know that they require aeration whereas bettas do not. I have a betta and he survived being nearly murdered by our cats laying on the carpet for a few hours out of his bowl! I'd say he's a pretty hardy little fish. =)

Since we'd only have 1 fish per bowl, what about some kind of decorative plant/flower also? I was planning on placing blue colored glass beads in the bottom and using a submersible light to light up the vase.

I love the idea of beta and goldfish!

I think a flower at the bottem would look very nice even if you did the led lights too! oooo so pretty!

I've owned betta fish before. They are beautiful, but they can be really sensitive to heat/candlelight like Jessica said, and motion/being transplanted. I had one that lived over a year, but I had two that died really quickly. I were a guest and I saw a live animal die in a centerpiece in front of me, it would totally gross me out. So even if I didn't think it was cruel (which I do), I wouldn't do it.

I have gone to one wedding before and saw this.

They used colored rocks to match their theme, and also colored ribbon. You can get bettas in different colors like blue or red. As most people stated you can only put one betta in each bowl, but why would you need more than one in each vase?

At the end of the night, allow your guests to take them home. You can buy betta bowl kits with the vases like the ones pictured here almost anywhere. And the plant that you see in the picture, the bettas do nibble on the plant. It looks nice.

You do have to be careful because no one wants to see a dead animal at a wedding, although I have never heard of this. Just be prepared for anything.

I have had many betta fish, both males and females. I have had them live for three years.

To all those that comment and say its cruel, quit judging. Where would the fish be if someone didn't use them for centerpieces and give them for gifts? Sitting on a shelf at Walmart swimming in their own poop?

My friend did this for her wedding about 4 years ago. She had tall standing vases and submerged orchids in them and also but submersible lights at the bottom of the rocks and then a beta fish...it was a big hit! At the end of the night she had the venue coordinator empty the beta fish into individual containers and sent them home with the kiddos as favors.

I think its a really neat idea but I feel like it would be really difficult because is hard to find pretty male betas that have been cared for properly before hand, and females are ugly, just how it goes in the wonderful world of fish. Also if you did decided to take more than one home you would have to have a separate container for each of them and keep them away from each other so the fish don't stress and die so it would be a lot of pre/post wedding hassle too. I am sure it would be really beautiful but I would hate for you to be more stressed over something like this on your wedding day you already have so much to worry about, caring for 8-25 fish just doesn't seem worth all the hassle behind it.

Lol Mrs D, fish aren't doomed for death at Walmart just b/c someone doesn't scoop them up for centerpieces.

The reason I think it has the potential for cruelty is b/c you're transporting them 3 times instead of once, from store to home. I'm not saying it's automatically "cruel" but there's just a lot more that can go wrong and harm the animal when you use it as a prop instead of just taking it home as a pet straight from the store. Like Whitney said, I think it takes a lot of prep and care to ensure they're handled, transported, and distributed properly. Plus the possibility that one or two might go belly up and gross people out. I love betta and I think they're beautiful, I just don't think it's worth it.

My aunt and uncle did this for their wedding and gave them out as centerpieces to the local guests. I don't have a picture, but they had little inserts in the jars they used that allowed for the candle to be completely separate from the fish. The jars were on top of mirrors and had rose petals scattered around them.

I loved taking home a fish!

This is a neat idea but a little over the top....to me it just seems like one more thing to worry about. are you going to have a designated person of fish detail all night checking for dead ones??? and if so won't that be a little ick to watch said person dismantle the centerpiece, scoop out the dead fish and put in the new and then act like it never happened?? I agree with kris s.....nice idea, but probably not worth it at the end of the day.

Agree with Kat about one more thing to worry about. They're living creatures. Sending them home with your guest is an expense and burden on them. If they don't want them, will you just flush them? Transport them back to the pet store? My sister gave me the betta her kids "won" at an event. Cost me over $100 for a new tank (containers are too small for them to live in), plus all of the extra (filter replacements add up) and changing the water was a hassle. My sister and most of the people who attended were very upset about being obligated to take the fish.

What I find disturbing is your comment about how people calling out cruelty is being "self-righteous." Standing up for what you feel is wrong is a good thing. I personally think its wrong and would think poorly of a bride who did this. My 2 cents. My previous comment is being realistic though. Even if I didn't care about animals, I would think it would be a pain in the butt for you.