A Tiny River Flows Through This Table and It’s Pretty Amazing

Usually, adding natural elements to your dining table would mean placing a potted plant at the center and calling it a day. TikTok, though, has different ideas: one video shows a river on the dining table instead.

The short but mind-blowing clip below shows a wooden dining table with a stream running right through the middle. If this weren’t in someone’s house, you might mistake it for an actual body of water; it has moss lining the banks, pebbles at the bottom, that sense of tranquility, and even actual fish.

The video, which has nearly 2 million likes on TikTok, has made a lot of people curious. For one, how does it even work? Many pointed out that maintenance would be a pain. You’ll not only have to wipe the surface like with regular tables, but also have to replace the water while always making sure the fish don’t go belly up.

“Good luck cleaning that out every other day with no filter,” said one commenter, to which others replied that the stone and moss could act as filters, and that there could also be hidden pumps for aeration. “The water could drop into a multi-level sand/lava rock/micro bacterial sponge, using small sub pumps are relay back to the beginning creating the river effect.”

Some also speculated that the fish are only added during tea ceremony, and that they live in an aquarium or pond when the table is not in use.

But perhaps the most amusing observation came from the pet owners. “It’s a cat buffet table!” said one commenter, with another saying: “There’d be water all over the floor, and rotting fish halves hidden under the couch and who knows where else throughout the house.”

While this table truly is stunning and is an imaginative spin on traditional dining spaces, it might not be a good idea for those who are too busy to do regular maintenance or who are always spilling soups and sauces. In addition, cat owners and parents with young children might also want to skip this one, lest they want to see their goldfish become snacks.

What do you think? Would you want one of these in your home?