Bettas in Wine Bottles?!!

So I blooping around on etsy when I came across this (awful) item for sale. This guy is selling live betta fish in wine bottles. His listing says:

Quote:This hand cut 1.5 liter clear glass wine bottle makes the perfect peaceful home for a beautifully colored Betta fish. Small powerful magnets with discrete steel bolts keep the top portion of the bottle gently attached to the base. A wonderful addition to wedding table and party centerpieces.

I'm sorry, last I heard, fish were living creatures not decorations!

Here's the link to the actual listing

Also, a lot of people have asked him to take his listing down and please don't force bettas to live in such a tiny "tank", but he has refused. He insists that it's fine. (Source from posts on tumblr, which alerted me to this in the first place.

You are absolutely right. They should not be treated as decoration, but rather your pets that you cherish. Even if they are fish, they deserve a better home than a wine bottle. Perhaps if the fish were in the bottles for a short period of time, then that could be fine? But if people are buying this bottle to actually put their Betta Fish in, then that's terrible. It's not even safe overall because wine bottles can break much more easily by being knocked over than a regular fish bowl. I wonder when this guy will be flagged for animal cruelty to fish. D:

I blame it on the marketing of betta in a vase... The guy obviously "Hey, if it is ok to have a betta in a vase, why not in a wine bottle?"
Putting a betta fish in a wine bottle or a vase is wrong on so many levels.

1. The bottle is too small to have sufficient amount of water for stable water conditions such as water temperature, hardness, PH, etc.

2. The bottle has such small opening that there won't be enough surface contact for gas exchange.

3. The bottle is too small to have a heater and filter installed. Since betta fish is a tropical fish, no heater means certain death eventually. Yes, the fish might keep on living for a few months but that's the period of suffering lead to the eventual demise. These fish can live for years. Without a filter running 24/7, the toxic ammonia produced by the fish will build up and kill the fish.

Many marketing person do not know jack about fish or they simply do not care.
We always recommend minimal 5-gallon for a single betta fish. The tank also must have a heater and an aquarium filter.