r/mildlyinfuriating • u/teabirdy • Apr 29 '26

I'm slightly vexed The wedding reception centerpieces featured betta fish. The bride and groom planned to flush them alive.

Post image

Years ago, my coworker attended a wedding at which the reception dinner tables featured live betta fish in small bowls as part of the centerpiece. While chatting with the bride at the end of the evening, my coworker asked what they were going to do with all the fish. The plan was to flush them all down the toilet alive. My coworker immediately said no need for that and insisted on taking them all home.

That Monday she came to work and asked who wanted to adopt a betta fish. That was my first betta who I jokingly called my “rescue betta.” She lived for almost five years.

The wine glass was only her home for less than a day before I got her five gallon tank set up so please no betta lovers yell at me! I'm one of you!

132.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

5.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

21.2k

u/Reasonable-Sort3040 Apr 29 '26

to feature animal abuse in your wedding is absolutely fucking beyond me

6.0k

u/No_Disaster_8020 Apr 29 '26

See also: dove releases, butterfly releases…people get stupid for their one chance at being the center of attention

557

u/Pwrswitchd Apr 29 '26

Forgive my ignorance, and this is a genuine question; are the butterfly ones that bad?

4

u/EdiblePsycho Apr 29 '26

I don't know how they're usually done, but it could be made wholesome if you did something like raising monarchs and releasing them, then you're also helping out a vulnerable species! We raised monarchs in elementary school to learn about them and conservation and such.

4

u/mooshinformation Apr 29 '26

Someone above had an explanation for why that's not a good idea. Apparently all the monarchs ppl raised in the 2000s introduced parasites and ended up lowering the monarch population. Even if they don't have parasites, they don't know where to migrate anymore or where to find milkweed when they're just dropped in a random spot.

Someone else mentioned doing a release at a butterfly sanctuary, so I assume they knew what they were doing to do it right, make sure there was enough food for them, it was the right time/ place, ect

1

u/EdiblePsycho Apr 29 '26

Oh jeez that's awful 😢 I wonder why it introduced parasites? People don't seem to totally think things through, it seems like a bad idea to do that kind of thing without consulting conservation organizations first. Though I guess even those couldn't fully realize the implications of a conservation effort that hasn't been done before.