Fish bowl centerpiece

All,

I was contacted through a friend of mine about getting info for an idea on making fish bowl centerpieces for a gala on April 24th. I told this person I would get back to them with any information I could get. Sorry in advance, not trying to spam everyone here.

Ideally they would like to make I believe 25 centerpiece bowls and are looking to "borrow" the fish for the entirety of the event (3pm - 10:30 pm). She will provide all bowls, gravel/marbles, plants (maybe a pothos or something). She is only looking to borrow the fish and said the water would have to get taken care of.

I told her my personal gut instinct about it all and told her that bettas are likely the only viable option. No need for aeration, minimal water quality issues (dechlorination and make sure water isnt freezing or boiling), and make sure to only have one per bowl. She asked me if any other fish could be used given that they would only be in the bowls for several hours. I told her I would see what kind of response I could get.

Does anyone have any suggestions? businesses that do this sort of thing. Anyone within the club willing to do this sort of thing? She would like to work with someone to get this done. I dont have a real stake in this other than trying to be nice and give this lady any info I can get.

Thanks again, and sorry for clogging up the posts.

David

Would small goldfish work? If I remember correctly from a long time ago, the guy at the fair had his goldfish in little bowls and when my ping pong ball landed in that bowl that was the fish I won. I vaguely remember the bowl being stacked as if they were on steps to see in the side of each bowl. Of course I'd aim for the ones with the bubble eyes or koi coloration. But idk if that's still an option.


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You are right about the choice of using bettas. I have been to weddings where this is done. However, the 'borrowing' might not happen. She may have to breakdown and buy the fish. Perhaps they could do door prize tickets for each centerpiece to get rid of them.

On the other hand, I think using animals for centerpieces would not be a good idea. There are plenty of plastic floating fish that stay upright that would be a better idea than subjecting an animal's life to a probable demise.

Agree with mzcichlid..

Also agree, and also a lot of people may not like the idea of being "thrust" into a hobby that they will ultimately have to spend money on and have no real interest in to begin with.

I would say get 2-3 small gold fish in a bowl for each table
and have the guest take them home if they like.
then she/you can take care of the rest that the guest dont take home.
Its cheap and you can start a new hobby with some of these guest :FIREdevil:

Planning my daughters wedding we seriously considered this. Ultimately, we decided against it. We had many out of town and out of state people attend, traveling with a fish bowl is problematic, I envisioned some of the bowls being left for the hotel to deal with, not something I was going to chance.

Keeping a few gold fish, or one betta in a bowl isn't a good idea long term. I do keep one betta in a 1.5 gallon bowl as a centerpiece in my house, but I have live plants, don't over feed and change 90% of the water every week. Most non-hobbiests won't do that.

When my son got married I put on a big cookout/ rehearsal dinner. 75 people outside under a tent with pit beef and such.
I did put up some tables with Bettas on them. I used inexpensive glasses from Party Palace. Worked fine. I think there were like 5 of them. Some people asked and I let them take them home. The ones that were not claimed came home with me. I even had some bags there for transportation.

And yes, you would need to buy them.


My daughter had different center pieces on each table at here wedding reception. I think there were like 4 with Bettas in them. The rest were flowers or floating candles.

Depends on many variables. What is the intent of the centerpiece? If it is just for show, then the plastic fish option is a good one. Will they be given away at the end of the event? The plastic fish could possible be displayed without any water if done right.

If live fish are a must, how big will the bowls be? If the small "ivy" bowls, then bettas are perhaps the only option. If bowls are larger, there are more options, like guppies, platies, dwarf gouramis and the many color variants, honey gouramis, etc. If the live centerpieces are to be given away, then make sure there are plastic bags available to pack the fish in.

I considered this... and quickly decided NO NO NO. :lol:

Maybe try Pats idea... as then you don't have to get rid of 25 of them... just 4 or 5 of them.

I opted for this... instead... water, flowers and candles... Looked fantastic at night, if she is having a night wedding. If she wants to copy it ... tell her go for it, mine was done in Cali :lol: