{"id":8,"name":"Amy J, AKA Myaj","url":"http:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com","description":"<p>I first kept goldfish as a child, not many survived, but at least my parents figured out a bowl just wasn't going to cut it and got me a 10 gallon. My goldie \"Freddy\" grew to a huge size with gorgeous, flowing fins, he was breathtaking. Upon Freddy's untimely death when I was 13, I retired the tank to a corner in the basement. <\/p>\r\n<p>In high school, my boyfriend talked me into visiting a local fish store and out came that 10 gallon tank. I tried every \"typical\" first time tank mix, fancy guppies and a betta, bumble bee gobies and green spotted puffers (with a little \"aquarium salt\" of course, ugh!), mollies and platies and goldfish... nothing ever survived except for three tough-as-nails Black Skirt Tetras.<\/p>\r\n<p>Over the years I kept just those three tetras, any other fish I put in the tank would die within hours it seemed like. Basically I would feed the fish and that was it. Ocassionally I'd dump out the tank, clean all the gravel and refill it. <\/p>\r\n<p>I also have horses, and was a member of a horse forum. As time went on, I began to browse some of their sister forums, one of which was a fish site. As I read and learned, I realized why my fish had never survived and how horribly I was treating my three tetras. Begin water changes!<\/p><p>Pretty soon I had picked up a 29 gallon tank on a dual stand, which of course led to a second 29 gallon tank for the bottom of the stand. Then a 33xl, then a 60 cube, then a 75, then a few more 10's, then a 20 long, then a great deal on 2 20 highs, then... well, you get the idea!<\/p>\r\n<p>From the start I've loved puffers. As the fish forum I visited was completely revamped, many of the good, knowledgeable members moved on and started their own forum, which is where I met Pufferpunk. As the years went on, the draw of puffers was too much to resist. I always found myself back here reading posts, learning about the different species and how to take care of them. When one day I stumbled across South American Puffers at a store, I was thrilled! I immediatly bought the puffers, moved my fish in one of the 29's to the 33xl and came running to The Puffer Forum for support and advice. Its all been uphill from there! <\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>From the start of my \"educated\" fishkeeping days, my tanks have been strictly planted tanks. Even my one attempt at a reef tank has macro algaes, although its not very pretty at the moment.  The fish I keep have mainly been rainbowfish, goldfish and puffers, with some shell dwellers, loaches and assorted catfish thrown in. <\/p>\r\n<p>In addition to my fish, I have two horses, Buddy and Mahli, and an adopted black lab named Sophie, who is the sweetest dog in the world and I'm very lucky to have her.<\/p>\r\n<p>I hope to continue to help make The Puffer Forum a great place where everyone, including myself, can learn and share their experiences with these great fish!<\/p>","link":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/author\/myaj\/","slug":"myaj","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/469bbb0cded5a65e87063b379a80b80d945fa29c24ff11a31e661165db5e4c8c?s=24&d=mm&r=g","48":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/469bbb0cded5a65e87063b379a80b80d945fa29c24ff11a31e661165db5e4c8c?s=48&d=mm&r=g","96":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/469bbb0cded5a65e87063b379a80b80d945fa29c24ff11a31e661165db5e4c8c?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"meta":[],"amp_review_panel_dismissed_for_template_mode":"","amp_dev_tools_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepufferforum.com\/forum\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users"}]}}