Books?

[squillkm]

I am fairly new to the fish keeping hobby and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on good, informative, and accurate book on different types of tropical fish and goldfish and how to care for them. I'm a visual person so pictures are a must. Thanks!!

 

[kelly528]

A really awesome book if you are considering aquariums 10g and under is Mini Aquariums by David E. Boruchowitz.

 

[unknowntbeast]

I'd stick to the forums. Most people here know what they are talking about and the info is more up to date than books.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with unknownbeast that the forums here completely blow away almost all the books I've reviewed as far as the complete story on how to reach the state of the art in the hobby. Stick to the forums for the "know-how" part.

BUT, I agree with kelly and squillkm that just about every hobbyist has a book or two of beautiful fish pictures to look at when one doesn't feel like being at the computer!

I don't have a particular one to recommend, I'm sure the members may have many. But if you like the pictures, get it! Just promise not to think that what the book has in print is necessarily the right info just because its in print. Always double-check your information via questions here, even the info about how big species get and their particular characteristics. Its good to check those things among a number of different sources.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

I have no suggestions about species specific books but I think a good primer for plant enthusiasts would be Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad. It has nice line drawings and a few pictures but it also has lots of charts and graphs and makes a good reference if you get serious about plants but don't want to spend a fortune trying to feed them CO2 and fertilizers. It will walk you right through how to set up an easy care and lush planted tank.

 

[Mikaila31]

Check your library. Usually you can find some aquarium books their, and if your library sells donated books its a good place to look. I agree that the internet is really your best up to date source. I can find cheap and big aquarium books from my library, but they are old. I guess the most informative one was published in 1981. It has a lot of good species descriptions, but other than that its really out of date. All the tanks in the book are metal frame tanks. And the only possible filters it has are UGF, sponge filte, and some weird air driven HOB filter.

I need to get Diana Walsteds book though, I've been meaning to for a while. Her El Natural style isn't my preferred method. But I bet the book is still a really interesting read.

 

[squillkm]

Thanks! I checked out my local library, but they didn't have much of a selection. I'm going to look at a few other ones around my town and hopefully find some good books. I know it's smarter to get up to date information from the internet, but I get dizzy when I read for an extended period on a computer screen, so books are my preference. This forum is my favorite tho, and offers a ton of great tips!

 

[OldMan47]

One of the hazards of the "up to date" information on the internet is the poor quality of some of it. I am especially cautious of information on any wiki-type site. There are a few reputable sources for fish keeping, this is one, but even in the best of places you need to judge the quality of each post and the knowledge level of the poster. Even here we get too much poor quality posting to just arbitrarily trust what you read. At least check things out if you are going to rely on the internet to study a subject.