Betta/Peace Lily Vases are Back this Holiday Season....

[Hidden Walrus]

I thought this fad had died out, but it is back. The local Kmart is selling betta vases this holiday season as "fish ponds" for $20, with little red or green bows and gravel and a pathetic little peace lily plant on top. They've been there since the beginning of October at least and as far as I can tell the fish have been neither fed nor the water changed. They would only hold maybe a half gallon full, and the water was already gray and the plants were blackened with cold damage. Some were on sale in the foyer between doors where it is only maybe 55 degrees. All of the bettas were very emaciated but none had died yet, somehow but on many their fins had rotten away. The water in some has evaporated to about an inch, drying up the plants roots and leaving the fish laying on its side. These were the care instructions included. I took a picture so I could rewrite them word-for-word just to show the ridiculousness of this product:

"This a self-sustaining ecosystem, one that can flourish with little care anywhere in the home. Simply place your fish pond in a brightly lit area and replace the water that evaporates as needed using distilled or bottled water. Do not change the water entirely as the plant will use up the waste material from the fish to grow.

The fish in your pond is a male Siamese Fighting Fish. The males of this species must not be kept together as they will fight, but if desired a female Siamese Fighting Fish may be purchased separately and added with the male. These fish do not require any supplementary feeding as they get all that they require from the algae that grows on the plants roots but if desired the fish may be fed a commercial betta pellet food two to three times daily.

Do not allow the temperature in your fish pond to drop below 60 degrees as Siamese Fighting Fish are tropical fish and do not do well in cold temperatures."

These care instructions have to be the most inaccurate I have ever seen and this product one of the cruelest. These stores should not be selling these animals and I will not be shopping there again.

[aemaki09]

I hate how the companies that sell those things are absolutely CLUELESS about the care involved with bettas!!!
Eats algea?? REALLY? pretty sure they are carniverous?!
AND Adding a female is okay? --YEAH if you want to see a dead fish in a few days
UGH
lol sorry, had to have a little rant along with ya!

[Kevron56]

What is the name of the company that is producing these?!

[aokashi]

oh goodness, why are all these popping up again? the peace lily vase was a great idea... gone wrong.
If people can get atleast one gallon vases, a heater, dechlor and good betta food. The vase will then actually be a good idea.

jusy a note though, if i had a functioning lily vase, I wouldn't change 100% of the water >.>

[Hidden Walrus]

They were just calling them "fish ponds", by Kmart. This doesn't pull up any relevant hits on Google though.

[ChoclateBetta]

I grow peace lilies in my filter but vases those are terrible.

[whiskandbowl]

Take pictures and email corporate, that's absolutely disgusting. Poor fish, I'd be livid

I'd also post the pics on their Facebook page with a description outlining why their info is false. Gets word out there of how wrong they are, and shows the horrendous conditions these fish are being kept in.

[ChoclateBetta]

I took the peace lily thing and improved it yay for live plants in filters.

[nel3]

this is not a vase and its 50x worse than one. couldn't find the regular thread on death trap aquariums but this thread is similar enough.
http://www.aquariumguys.com/betta-bowfront-kit.html

their smallest deathtrap's packaging box is only 4 inches tall, 3 inch width AND depth. that's a guesstimate on the size and its pretty close to the. i didnt open the box but id guess there's no more that a cup or 2 worth of water capacity. they even have the double/divided version with the same equally small halves. i think the front surface dimension in the link refers to the divided side. the rest of the link provides its own horror plot. the darn thing was selling for $6 in the store.

[ChoclateBetta]

We need laws against this stuff.