That Fish Place - That Pet Place — Attraction in East Hempfield Township

Please note that this review is not for the entire store-it is for the small animal area and the experience I had this past week purchasing a rabbit…..over the weekend my family and I went into the store to get koi food for our fish pond-we visited the small animal area to see if they had any rabbits we liked because we had been thinking about getting another rabbit to replace the one that had passed away (from old age) last year. I love rabbits and have had quite a few over the years. They had some adorable dwarf rabbits labeled to be ready for sale on Monday. We talked about it over the weekend and my husband and I decided to go in Monday morning and get one of them. I went with my two youngest children to fill the cart with what I needed and to pick out a cage. When the small animal room opened up we went in and asked to see the two little dwarfs so we could choose one. The lady and the man there seemed very reluctant to help and not very enthusiastic that we wanted to actually purchase an animal. It seemed like they had never had the request before for someone to see an animal before buying it. We finally chose which one we liked and which cage would be a good fit for our home. On display in the store is a black rabbit cage on a black stand labeled rabbit cage stand. We thought this would be perfect to keep the rabbit elevated away from our dogs and our toddler, as well as make the rabbit more mobile so we could move him around the house or take him outdoors. I started filling the paperwork out for purchasing/adopting the rabbit and the man helping me asked me what cage/bedding/food etc I would be using. I told him I liked the cage on the floor that had a stand and he literally said, absolutely not-a rabbit cannot be elevated and the cage was too small. So he sold me what he would allow (nothing less than 47”). I told him I usually used cedar or pine shavings for bedding. He said those were horrible options as they caused cancer-and he even told me of black tumors he had seen on rat organs because of cedar shavings (I have no idea how he knew what caused the tumors). When I said I liked using this previously because my rabbit had lived outside for most of the year and I didn’t want paper all over the yard-he said something about how in barns they use cedar but the horses are so tall the fumes don’t reach them and it’s more airy….(really?). Anyway-every step of the way the man behind that counter contradicted me, tried to reeducate me, made me feel like he was the only person on earth who knew how to take care of a rabbit properly and that left a really bad taste in my mouth. I looked up cedar shavings and cancer online-nothing definitive. I looked up rabbit cage sizes and there are recommendations based on size and weight. I can go with a smaller cage because I have a smaller rabbit. Needless to say I am buying my rabbit supplies elsewhere because of this guy, and I’m checking everything they tell me there. But thanks for the...

I have shopped at this store for the 7 years I have lived in Pennsylvania and never had a bad experience with the staff here until today.

Myself and my 15 yr old daughter went into the small animal area as we were interested to see what rats they had in. On walking into the area we saw a young man that worked there with a rat on his shoulder. At the time I was interested on seeing it to ask about the colour variety as it was one I hadn't seen before. However my eagerness to speak to the staff member fast turned to anger as he very quickly became defensive and rude towards my daughter.

As we walked in she was pushing her sleeves up to put them back above her elbows, a sensory thing as she doesn't like the feel of certain fabrics on her lower arms due to having ASD. The staff member immediately started getting defensive with her assuming she was just going to reach for the rat on his shoulder. My daughter has been raised with rats her entire life so would never just reach for one she doesn't know. He started having a go at her telling her "it was no good rolling her sleeves up and expecting to take the rat off him to hold".

He then persisted on lecturing me on how if I wanted to hold a rat I would need to have paid for, and put my name to one.

I currently have 6 females so not looking to add to the group just yet but even if I was I would want to handle any that I was considering to purchase before committing my name and money to it.

As if he thought touting his experience would prove anything he then preceed to advise me that he used to breed for the store and now doesn't but is strict regards customers handling the rats so as not to stress the animals out.

This is something I have never experienced in a pet store before. My own experience in rat care and husbandry spans 32 years of keeping and breeding rats, both fancy rats and African Pouched rats. So to have some youngster treat me as someone with no experience in these animals, before:

1. knowing if I was interested in purchasing one in the first place, and
2. not asking basic questions to establish my experience in the animal i was potentially looking to purchase was with all due respect just plain rude and arrogant.

As far as I am concerned if a person was wanting to purchase an animal from me it was important for me to know their level of experience and to see them handle the animal before committing if anything so I can give them good sound advise on both handling and care.

After his rude lecture I did proceed to advise him of my experience and if I was ever intending to purchase one in the future I definitely would not be purchasing from this store especially if I was unable to interact with the animals I am intending to spend money on as I believe it is important to know early on if yourself and the animals available are compatible from the start. If I deemed the animal as being unable to be handled I could then make the decision to proceed to give it a home...

I’m not one to leave an unkind review about a business but I feel like I can’t let it slide AGAIN. Earlier in the year I purchased two small saltwater gobies from the fish room for my 15 gallon reef tank, a green clown goby and a neon cleaner goby. Everything prior to my purchase in the tank was going great! I bring home these two fish, acclimated as normal per instructions from the fish room and I notice the green clown goby had white spots on his body. Being new to the hobby I didn’t think anything of it. A week or so later the green clown goby died and then a few other fish started to develop these spots and then would die off. I have a tank specialist who comes and services my tank every two weeks and let me know my tank was infested with “ich”. I lost all my fish livestock from this incident.

Present day - today - August 4th - Sunday - I decide to give the store another chance for a fish purchase (mind you I love every other aspect of this store, pet supplies, other departments). I went in to buy a pair of clownfish for my 32 gallon tank and a quite expensive Helfrichi Firefish goby for my 15 gallon tank. The Firefish alone was $130.00. I acclimated as normal. The clownfish looked great and acclimated great. No issues! I put the firefish in the other tank at 2 in the afternoon. Aquarium lights don’t come on until 4pm. As soon as the lights come on I check out the tanks to see how everything is doing. I look at the firefish and I thought my eyes were deceiving me at first. I look again and surely they weren’t. The firefish was covered in white spots on BOTH sides of its body. Yet again ANOTHER fish that was sick with ich! I had to make a very hard decision to either keep the fish in the tank in hopes of it getting better over time and not infect the rest of the tank or dispose of the fish. I choose the latter and scooped the fish out of the tank and flushed it. I couldn’t risk losing a tank full of fish yet again. I didn’t ask for a receipt which is MY fault but yet again money thrown down the drain.

So my question is this, That Fish Place…What are your protocols for quarantining fish when you get shipments in? Do you even bother to quarantine at all? I looked at the tag of the fish I purchased and it had a date of the end of June so I assumed all would have been okay. Apparently I assumed wrong! Do you offer customers to look at said fish under stronger lighting to determine if the fish are indeed healthy?

Unfortunately in good conscience and for the health of my saltwater tanks I simply can’t and will not purchase anymore fish from your store. It really is a shame because I love every other part...