special_kala

Im thinking of having fish center pieces for our wedding.

It'd be 1 goldfish in glass bowl on tables with pink gravel at bottom.

We will make sure water is correct for them and only put them in just before dinner starts and then put them all back into the main tank before evening starts.

What do you think? I dont want people to think im being cruel, we do plan on keeping fish after in a big tank for them

Jessa

I think this is a great idea! We did this at our wedding.

Here's a pic:


We used betta fish that we borrowed from a local fish store. We had an agreement that they would take them back, but we had to pay for any fish that died (none did though!). We used rose bowls that we borrowed from a local flower shop as well. We sprinkled some aquarium gravel in our wedding colour (light blue) around the outside of the bowl to make it look a bit nicer.

On the head table in front of my husband and I, we had a bowl with two kissing gouramis in it. It was great symbolism!

We're fish people and wanted to have that be part of our wedding. We've got so many fish tanks in our house, I can't even count them. Plus, an outdoor pond and a 2000 gallon indoor pond in our basement.

Good luck!

Erised

I voted no, just because I've heard so many horror stories of what happens to the fish after/during the wedding.

With bettas there's often a couple of drunk people at a wedding that find it ever so funny to put them in a bowl together and watch them fight each other to death.
As for the goldfish, if you're planning on keeping them all in adequate aquariums afterwards, maybe. If you're not an experienced fish keeper however, please read up on goldfish requirements before even considering this. Most people think 'Oh, we'll keep them in a big tank', thinking it's fine to keep 4 goldfish in a 20Gallon.

Goldfish get quite large, and can live for many a years. Min. for the first fish would be 20 Gallons and 10 gallons for every fish after.
If you believe you can provide them with this afterwards, then by all means go for it! Just a couple of hours in a small bowl won't hurt them, as long as you trust the guests to treat them like animals and not toys.

special_kala

Its a pretty small wedding so we only have 8 tables = 8 fish and we asked at pet shop and they said the tank we have is big enough for them. We also have a pond that we can move them into when they get to big.

Jessa

Sounds like you've got a good place to house the fish afterwards. As Erised said, sometimes people can be mean to the fish during the reception. Since we were borrowing the fish and didn't actually purchase them, we let people know that and nothing bad happened. We had a fairly large wedding too -- about 150 people.

tasha41

Jessa that is such a good idea, the agreement with the fish store!!

Did you have to put like a deposit on the fish? I know that sounds stupid but..!!

Jessa

Nah, no deposit on the fish at all. Like I said, we're big fish people so we knew the guy at the store pretty well. He agreed to it, no problem at all. We arranged for my uncle to go in and pick up the fish the morning of our wedding and to take them out to where we were holding the reception to get them ready. He was also in charge of taking out any that may have died over the night and replacing them with live ones (although none died, after all). We got lots of compliments on the idea.

ryder

Thats such a cool idea Jessa! My OH breeds fish, he would totally LOVE that idea.

babymama

I'm not a big fan of using fish (mostly cause I've seen first hand what happens to them and even rescued a few) People think it's funny to put ex. Betas in one tank, or pour vodka into the bowls. But, if you have a small wedding and can then take care of the fish, then go for it.

Kirstin

I wouldn't for the above reasons really.