Now that I think of it I actually have never seen in person a fish-tanked TV, but I have seen TVs turned into cabinets for newer TVs, or other general A/V equipment, shelves, and bars. And wasn't there a set we were discussing a few weeks ago that someone turned into a dog house.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=67247 It's not so bad when someone takes a set with a busted crt or some other major problems and does this, but to do it to a perfectly repairable set
And they should at least try to give away the chassis to someone who can use it. I have junked a few sets myself if they needed parts I couldn't find to fix it, or had something I needed to repair a similar model that was in better condition. But I always kept the chassis, and crt (if it was good) for parts to help repair other sets in the future.