Fish Books

[catf1shcat]

I wouldnt exactly say i was a newcomer to tropical fish, its just been a fair few years since ive had them. I recently got a new tank for my daughter and have stocked it up,(they're all there on my profile). I used to have an amazing book of which i cant remember the name of and gave it away along with my old tank when i moved. I cant seem to find another copy anywhere, although its probably pretty much out of date now.I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions on a new, more up-to-date tell-you-everything book that i could get my hands on? Cheers Cat x

 

[wally6346]

There's a good book called The Perfect Aquarium by Jeremy Gay which is excellent, everything you need to know...I think he writes for PFK magazine too

 

[Miss Wiggle]

depends what you want from the book, if it's fish species type info the Baensch Aquarium Atlas's are the mutts nutts so to speak

if you want a nice coffe table type book with loads of pretty pictures for inspiration and to drool over you can't go wrong with any of the Nature Aquarium World series by Takashi Amano

for the science behind fishkeeping and planted aquariums in particular Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walmsley is very technical but very good

if you just want something for researching the basics, info on maintenance, tips on basic breeding, tank set ups etc then check out www.fishforums.net won't be much you can't find there for general fishy info!!

 

[catf1shcat]

cheers guys, ill look into them

 

[GerardK]

The Jeremy Gay book is excellent

 

[Trina]

The Jeremy Gay book is excellent

Ditto. I'm new and I love this book. I have checked it out and renewed it twice from my library--guess I'll have to go buy a copy soon!

 

[rdd1952]

As mentioned, it depends on what you want it for. I've found that a lot of books are very inaccurate when giving stocking suggestions and telling how to "cycle" a tank by starting the filter and letting it run for a week before adding fish. Too many of them were written over 10 years ago before there was so much information available about testing water parameters, fishless cycling, etc.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I agree with rdd that most books are best ignored when it comes to actually setting up a tank as this is something that has changed so much in the last few years, and most people who write aquarium books have not been in the situation where they've needed to start from scratch for a good few decades. For other information, I like Bailey & Sandford, The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Aquarium Fish and Fish Care; it's a good mix between coffee table book and practical advice on subjects like the behaviour of different fish species, breeding, fish food and disease. And I got it for 2.99 in one of those cheepo coffee table book shops. I bought it for the pretty pictures, and because it was cheap, but then found it contained really interesting articles by some very experienced people.

 

[fiskkeeperpro]

Ive had about 20 tropical fish books and the best 1 i have is probably "The complete encyclopedia of Tropical Fish". It is available on amazon.co.uk (im not sure about amazon.com =[ ) Its author is Esther-Verhoef-Verhallen

 

[kribensis12]

what ever you do, dont get the book called" Dr, Axelrod's Atlas of freshwater aquarium fishes, eigth edition, revised and expanded. then at the bottom it will say with over 7,600 color photo's. I am not pleased with this book at all. It may have 1152 pages, or color photo's, but it has terrible info, and there isnt alot to begin with, just a whole bunch of weird signs. it was the worst way to spend 110 dollars.

 

[BigC]

I would advise you to have a look at the Baensch atlas series starting with volume 1.
http/www.amazon.co.uk/Aquarium-Atlas-Vol...6720&sr=1-1
Regards
BigC