I know that I am still new at this, but today I had a strange experience, maybe someone can tell me why this happened.

I went to my local fish store just to look around, and I found a tailspot blenny, in which I have been looking for for months now. The store had him marked as a Bicolor Blenny, which I was not about to tell them that he was marked wrong, he was cheaper! So I go to the girl that works there and ask her if they will hold him till tomorrow because I will be going home in the morning, they would not, fine. I tell her I will take him anyway.

When she reaches in the tank the fish hides in his hole and won't come out. The girl take the rock out of the tank and starts to shake it like crazy (with my fish in it!). I ask her if she is hurting my fish, "oh, no he's fine", yeah right! Then she says that if he won't come out, she will have to break the rock! I said won't that injure the fish, to which she replies that's a possiblitiy. I asked the girl if I could buy the rock and fish, and she replies, "I can't sell you this rock"....someone please explain to me why I would not be able to buy an ugly little rock, but they are willing to smash it with a hammer and kill my fish?

Then I ask the girl if we can just wait to see if he relaxes and comes out on his own. The girl takes the rock with my fish in it in a countainer back behind the counter to see if he will relax and come out, so I think. I am over by the books, when my brother comes over to me and tells me I might want to go over to there because they are sticking an opened paper clip into the hole where my fish is hiding! By the way the hole is about the size of a pencil eraser. What! Seriously! I walk over there and tell the 3 girls all standing around that if they are going to torture my fish they can just keep him. They tell me that he is fine, and they are just "tickling him". I can't believe what I heard, they can't see the fish and they're sticking a metal rod at a scared fish, but it's ok, he is just being tickled! I had to walk away before I said something I would regret.

The girl comes back over to me with the fish in a bag, and says, "Oh by the way he is not a true Bicolor, he's a Tailspot", I told her I still wanted him, after inspecting him. I wanted to tell the girl, No hes not a Bicolor at all, but I thought it was just better to get my fish and get out as fast as possible.

Have you ever heard of such a thing? Was the fish really in no danger in all of those scenarios? Why would they not want to sell me a tiny rock but want to destroy it? They had tanks full of cured rock they were selling.

I have never heard of somethign like this... But wow that is not what you get everday..girls tickling a fish to get it to come out.

They deserve a

wow, thats weird. I've never seen that before.

That is the funniest yet most horrific story I have heard in a while.

I'd try and avoid going there if possible. Sounds like a PetCo type of thing to do.

Holy Cow, I hope that poor fish is okay!!!
You might wanna keep the lights out on the tank he's in for the first day to help him destress a bit.

You should have punched them all, in the face. Problem solved!

I would just really keep an eye on that fish though, like someone else said. Good luck with it.

Never heard of anything like that before. But before you avoid the LFS entirely, maybe make sure she's just not some sort of aberrant employee. Hope your litle guy is alright though. Go easy on acclimation and maybe post some pics after he's settled in nicely.

Good greif! If they would have just taken the rock with the fish in it out of the water and held it over the empty tank for a minute, the fish would come out all on its own. Something about the fish wanting to breath over rides the desire to not get caught in a net. Good luck with the blenny.

Should of went to the manager. Then made a scene so everyone know how she treated the animal. LOL

Unfortunately it sounds like a lot of the LFS out there. You should have told her nevermind and you that you wanted to discuss it with a manager. Then explain to the manager why you wanted the fish, and why you're going to continue waiting until you can find it at a reputable store instead of one that will "tickle" a fish with a paper clip.

That sounds like animal cruelty go back and "tickle" her with an open paper clip see how she likes it. Hope your little guy does well

Don't forget to scale it up since she's bigger than the fish, your "paper clip" should be big enough to match so...maybe tickle her with a pipe

thats just horrendous treatment. I'd bring it up with the manager next time you go, and if he/she thinks nothing was wrong, stop going there.




This also sounds like a good idea

Hope your fish is ok. I would have walked out of there at least 5 times in that story.

That is nuts. I would make sure the rock wasn't treated with copper, if it came from a fish only tank, but you didn't get the rock anyway. Too bad she had to poke him to catch him, but I'm sure he's in a better home now

never go there again, and tell your friends not to also

WOW. I have never heard of anything like this, and would deff watch the fish for a while. Good luck.