Industry / Retailer Profiles
The Aquatic Animal Health Program provides professional development and formal educational opportunities for those who work in the ornamental fish industry, public aquaria, aquatic research, and veterinary medicine fields. This diverse, often interconnected, audience is located all around the globe. You can meet some of them here on our Profile page.
AQUATIC ANIMAL VETERINARIAN
THE PET FISH DOCTOR
March 2011
When your dog or cat needs medical care, it’s usually not difficult to find a local veterinarian who is familiar with the general afflictions facing these species. But if your FISH needs a doctor, whom are you going to call? Veterinarians with knowledge of pet fish medicine may be few and far between, but they do exist.
Dr. Helen Roberts is a small and exotic animal veterinarian who is one of the few practitioners in the country who provide medical and surgical care for fish. Located only 15 minutes from Niagara Falls, she is a partner at the 5 Corners Animal Hospital and is the go-to fish doctor at her associated practice, Aquatic Veterinary Medicine of Western New York. She says that when she talks to people about her work, most are “amazed” that she treats fish, and that she even performs surgery on fish. “I think the public perception is once a fish is sick, it’s dead,” she says. But through her veterinary practice, her educational publications and her lectures to all kinds of audiences about fish health, this outdated perception is beginning to change.
FISH RETAILER
THE WORLD OF WET PETS
September 2010
With 72 aquariums and more than 1000 fish in a studio apartment, Eric Rasmussen was, in his own words, “an intense hobbyist.”
He was in college then. But you might say it was a sign of things to come.
Today Rasmussen owns and operates The World of Wet Pets in Portland, Oregon, where he now houses 222 aquariums and more than 10,000 fish.
More businessman than hobbyist these days, Rasmussen and his staff – Jerry Craig, Tereasa McKay, Paul Dubay, Mike Pool, Tyler Watkins, Tasha Ochoa -- together offer customers more than 100 years of multi-faceted experience in the “world of wet pets.”
In fact, that experience is what sets his store apart. Even competing stores know to send customers to Rasmussen when they need help with fish health issues and problem-solving.
