AKRON — An aquarium owner said a customer who was angry because his fish died caused $50,000 of damage and killed hundreds of fish in his store.

Stephen Mills said he was not surprised when Michael Davis was arrested Monday for the March 11 break-in at the Aquatic Interiors Sea Cave on West Exchange Street.

Police said Davis, 49, of Beck Avenue, was caught because he cut himself when he entered the pet shop through a window. Police turned the blood over to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and it matched Davis' blood sample, which was on file from a previous arrest.

Davis surrendered to police on Monday and was charged with vandalism, cruelty to animals and breaking and entering.

Mills said he is still trying to pick up the pieces.

"It was just awful," he said. "I sold him an exotic saltwater fish for $150 last year. The fish died three or four days after he bought it. I told him he should have started out with a less expensive fish -- these are sensitive and difficult to raise."

Mills said Davis wanted a replacement, which he refused.

"He didn't call me until days after the fish was dead," Mills said. "I went to his house and asked him what he thought I could do at that point, with a decomposing fish. I asked why he didn't call me when the fish was sick, I might have helped. He was pretty angry with me."

Mills said a burglar broke into his shop and used a golf putter that he keeps in his office to smash every tank in the store.

"He put the putter through the bottom of 80 tanks, causing hundreds of fish to die," he said. "Of course, first, he stole the most expensive fish I had, including a lionfish. He piled up other items at the back door to come back for them. He didn't."

Also stolen were telephones and a computer, police said.

But the shop was not without defenders. Mills said he thinks Patrick the Parrot took a bite out of crime.

"It looks like the burglar reached into the parrot's cage and tried to grab it," Mills said. "That's an invitation to get bitten. He picked up the cage and tossed it into a pond, injuring the parrot's eye."

Mills said he's glad that Davis is in the Summit County Jail.

"He's unstable, his reaction was really disproportionate to what happened," he said. "I've been doing this for 30 years and never had this kind of problem before."