DATE:    11/2/00
WRITER:  Dr. David Bradshaw, Extension horticulturist, (864) 656-4949
EDITOR:  Giles Singleton, (864) 656-3876

The greatest fad since hula-hoops:
Tabletop Water Gardens

     CLEMSON -- Tabletop water gardens have created quite a 
stir recently. With their color and action, they are a novel 
gift idea for shut-ins, hospital patients or someone who has
everything.  They are small enough to fit almost anywhere, 
whether at the office or in the den at home.  
     So just what are tabletop water gardens?  Quite simple in 
design, they consist of an attractive clear glass vase that narrows 
at the top, filled with water; a clear plastic insert that supports 
a peace lily and a colorful beta fish for the action.
     The roots of the peace lily grow down into the water, 
providing forage for the beta fish, formerly known as Siamese 
fighting fish. If you hold a mirror next to the fish, it will 
fan out its fins in an aggressive display to the "enemy" in 
the mirror.
     To supplement the fish's nourishment, you add a couple of 
dried brine shrimp each week. There are no filters, aerators 
or pumps required, just bottled spring water -- chlorinated tap 
water may kill the fish.
     How much simpler could an exotic gift be?
     Tabletop water gardens are really not new; they are a 
variation of an old idea whose time has come. Today's versions 
are a bit more sophisticated than the water gardens I had while 
I was in Vietnam thirty years ago, but the concept is similar.
     One day in 1970, in a small village in South Vietnam, I 
noticed numerous children singing their way to school. As 
they passed by each home, other children who had been alerted 
by the singing joined them. On this particular day the children 
were bringing their favorite fish to school for show and tell.
     Heavy rubber bands had been braided into small cords and 
attached to small glass containers that held beta fish. As the 
children skipped and sang their way to school, the fish took 
quite a tumbling ride. I admired the beautiful betas with their 
flowing fins of scarlet, blue and neon green.
     Later in the day, many of the children returned to my small 
home to present me with gifts of beta fish. When I tried to 
decline their gifts, they were so disappointed I simply had to 
accept. They assured me that they could catch others in nearby 
ditches and pools. 
     Before sunset that day I was the owner of a rainbow of
twenty-three male beta fish.
     Beta fish are ideally suited for tabletop water gardens for 
they have an unusual ability to gulp a bubble of air into their 
mouths and extract oxygen.
They are indigenous to muddy pools and ditches, so they do not 
require sterile filtered water. It is their nature to be quite
territorial and fight among themselves when two are in the 
same container.  
     Therefore, when you hold a mirror up close to your water 
garden, you get quite a show of flowing fins in defensive 
posturing. 
     Tabletop water gardens are available at many florists, 
garden shops, gift shops and even grocery stores. If you have 
been trying to find an unusual gift, consider a tabletop water 
garden.
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     If you have gardening questions or comments, write to PSA 
Media Relations, A-101 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson 
University, Clemson, S.C. 29634-0129. Find other Buds and 
Blooms columns under news releases, at: http://www.clemson.edu/psamedia.
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