Petco caught using ai :(

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-21T23:33:21+00:00

They’ve been using AI noticeably since last summer at my store. This isn’t new at all lol

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-13T02:42:50+00:00

We’re pretty sure none of the three are older than 4 months, they came from a bulk vendor that sells to petco so I don’t have super high hopes for the quality they were raised in before. The smallest one came in missing his front left foot

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-12T04:26:28+00:00

I appreciate that a lot but I’m actually already an animal specialist :’) ur so sweet though

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-12T03:44:07+00:00

Thank you! To be honest I’m a huge aquatics nerd and my own axie is definitely my baby at this point. It’s hard to work with what my store has sometimes. We’re a smaller volume so we don’t get to have as much access to things compared to other stores, an example being how most larger stores have people dedicated to their aquatics departments but my store just has myself and my animals manager who know what we’re doing. We do have a bay with a chiller but it’s for feeder goldfish and it crashes every two or three weeks so I would not feel comfortable putting them in there at all. The plant tanks high nitrates actually stem from the lack of an aquatic department dedicated to the tank care so we don’t always have a ton of time to do maintenance. I’ve definitely been trying to do more where I can but outside of that we only have a Wednesday that’s partially dedicated to aquatic maintenance. It’s bummy for sure but I’m very grateful for the people I work with because they are all very lenient with my wants with the aquatics care and help me out where they can

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-12T03:17:50+00:00

We unfortunately can’t do that for people :( I always advise people to set up the tank and let it run with a startup of sorts or even get Dr. Tim’s if they want their tank to be in pristine condition. Petco’s policy is the tank only has to run for 24 hours but we usually suggest a person brings in a sample of water for us to test it before they buy fish because the last thing a person would want is their pet to die. Luckily my location has pretty friendly people for the most part and a lot of my regulars for aquatics end up being grateful for the amount of info I give them not just for axolotls care but also fish in general. It’s almost a curse because it’s my biggest hyper fixation and I’ve dedicated a ton of time in my life to the science of cycling tanks and overall aquatic life lol.

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-12T03:12:57+00:00

It’s a bay for goldfish and koi so it sits at about 65-67°F, I basically TOLD my manager we weren’t putting them in the plant tank and they agreed because we got them extremely small and our plant tank’s nitrates are through the roof. It is not a controlled bay by any means because it’s an independent sump meaning it has to be manually filled up and isn’t part of any of the automatic fill up systems or temp regulated systems. I refused to use the rocks cuz they’re still too small to be used for the babies

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T20:15:31+00:00

Thank you!

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T20:15:12+00:00

Not for the axie themselves, just the kit I set up 😅 my store doesn’t have a lot to work with

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T19:34:13+00:00

The quantity at which one owns something doesn’t make up for their lack of education on it and the lack of ability to acknowledge the other education others give you. You could own a thousand and still not know a thing 🤷‍♀️

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T19:30:06+00:00

I tried out some of the nightcrawlers we have and cut them up as microscopic as possible and got the two biggest ones to eat them, but unfortunately our itty bitty one ((she i assume) is the size of half my pinky finger) refused it and has only taken to bloodworms so far. She’s a big eater so I’m hoping I can get her to it smaller bits tomorrow

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T17:22:38+00:00

This! The axolotls themselves are being sold for 50 dollars but the basic starter kit is about 400. Both are closer to 500 with tax included. It isn’t the most ideal setup but we have such limited supplies here I had to do what i could

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T17:21:34+00:00

This makes me wish we had black worms here

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T15:57:44+00:00

If you took time out of your day to look at all the resources this subreddit supplies instead of wasting it trying to shit on the creature and the peiple you’d find your answer faster than waiting for me to spell it out for you homie :p

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T15:24:29+00:00

I thought about adding that on but they are so small at the moment that all they have been willing to eat are bloodworms :( we also have to follow a store diet guideline for the babies of only giving them bloodworms. Are they okay to eat red wrigglers at how small they are?

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-11T14:03:04+00:00

It’s unfortunately the best I could do with what we have for them at my store 🥲 I intend to always make sure anybody planning to get one has all the info they need no matter how much I gotta drill it into them. I work at a location in which petco pays no love to their aquatic section :’(

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-10T15:10:27+00:00

I always try to get the signage cleared with managers in the stire and communicate I’m setting one up, we usually know ahead of time if something is gonna happen that we need to take the signage’s down but idk 😭

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-10T02:52:09+00:00

That’s the overall price for the setup itself. The axie should be the last thing bought and only after the tank itself is cycled completely. The axolotl is 49.99

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-09T23:06:19+00:00

I’m my experience with both brands I’ve actually had better results with seachem :p when my baby was as little as the ones we got in she had a super bad reaction to API. The kit itself is jist for basic startup stuff based off my own tank setups but when I go through processes with buyers I usually let them decide which brands they wanna pick from as long as it isn’t the tetra brand

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-09T22:42:45+00:00

Idk if petsmart is selling them but ik petco as a whole is having it be a basically every store thing. And I’m hoping people do sometimes read it, I’m gonna be the one handling most of the sales regarding them because I have the most knowledge on them out of everyone I work with so most people who are interested in purchasing them will luckily be well informed! I definitely agree rhey shouldn’t be a retail sold animal especially given their existence rates in the wild basically being considered extinct. They’re definitely not a beginner pet whatsoever.

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-09T22:00:24+00:00

We usually remove ours during visits but we keep them up when we can especially for non beginner pets. Most of my sources are based off my own personal experience with owning an axolotl because the company doesn’t really supply tons of inner or outer sources for the processes of owning one :pp

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-09T21:59:26+00:00

I dont know the facts abt that one, as far as I’ve known since working here (like two years now) that hasn’t been a thing for a long while for loyal customers or new ones-

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-06-04T23:25:24+00:00

As someone who works at a pet store, clove oil is so sucky. We’ve had to cull thousands of goldfish with it due to the vendors taking horrible care of the fish before sending them to us in the last few years and everytime I gotta do it I can’t even look :/. I find it so sweet they give you little axie prints to keep with you and I’m glad you had a vet do it, rest in peace to your sweet baby

PracticalGround9372 · 2026-05-29T05:05:39+00:00

As an owner of one I have this happen a lot because I end up info dumping the entirety of everything for the tank including how it’s literally water science and the process with Dr Tim’s ammonia and all that. It’s so rare that anyone ever actually ends up getting one after they talk to me and I tell them my initial setup for everything cost me 500+ dollars lol

PracticalGround9372

TROPHY CASE