THE FISH PLANTER
A self-contained ecosystem. From Yorba Linda Greenhouse. $35 plus tax. Call (714) 528-4431.
Take it from Mr. Anti-nature himself: This is the perfect gift for journalists, software designers, entrepreneurs and others who would like a pet or plant, but lack either the time or inclination to get intimate with other life forms. This product is a fish-in-a-bowl and plant-in-a-vase rolled into one, but the best part is you don’t have to take care of it! Well, you do have to add distilled water maybe once a week to keep the level up. But you never have to feed the fish, or clean up after it. How can this be? Well, it turns out that the human genome isn’t the only recent scientific breakthrough. According to plant person Sharon Scott, a betta (or Siamese fighting fish) can survive eating nothing more than the root of the Peace Lily, and all that the Peace Lily needs for nutrients is the poop from a betta. So, you take a ginger jar, put a Betta in it, fill it with water, drop in the lily and add a few colored marbles for effect. Voila! What’s more, the lily absorbs all of the betta’s waste (so long as you don’t feed the betta anything extra), so there’s nothing smelly left to clean up after. The fish planter seems to have originated in the Southeast; Sharon and husband Bill found out about it during a visit to Georgia, and brought the idea back to Orange County. The Scotts donated the planters as centerpieces at the recent Orange Blossom Ball; Sharon says orders have been pouring in since. Yours truly was the winner of the centerpiece at his table, and joked that it was a sure death sentence for the poor fish. Not so. One month later (a record for this fish-killer), pet and plant are both doing fine. Let’s hope I remember to keep adding water.
