fishkeeping books.

[Blackghostknifekid]

I like doc axel rods mini atlas it has a lot of fish. Not all classification is up to date.

what is yours

 

[Byron]

The Aquarium Atlas of Baensch and Riehl came out in five volumes, in German; the first three came out in English translation, and I referred to them repeatedly.

 

[Blackghostknifekid]

The Aquarium Atlas of Baensch and Riehl came out in five volumes, in German; the first three came out in English translation, and I referred to them repeatedly.

I have never herd of it. How many fish does it cover? Assuming it is a fish atlas.

 

[Ichthys]

The Aquarium Atlas of Baensch and Riehl came out in five volumes, in German; the first three came out in English translation, and I referred to them repeatedly.

The first 4 came out in English. I have them.

My favourite book is still Sterba’s Freshwater Fishes of the World.

 

[GaryE]

Baensch makes Axelrod look like a beginner. The atlases cover pretty well everything you could keep up to 20 years ago, which is more fish than are available in the shrinking trade now. The Mini Atlas from TFH looks very mini in comparison to the first 3 volumes of Baensch.

These books are generally out of print though, like almost all aquarium books.And since the trade stopped abruptly around 2008, the nomenclature is frozen at that period of research.

My favourite fishbook is Anton Lamboj's work on cichlids of West Africa, mainly because I really like those fish and it is a superbly done (but now slightly dated) book. Weidner's Geophagus book is great. Christian Cauvet did a good killie intro, but just in French. Hellner did a good one in English translation but it is rare now. Innes gives you a great book from the early days of the hobby - lots of hacks in there from the pre-technology era. Add Baensch, the holy trinity books of fishkeeping, and you can learn a lot.

I worked in the fishbook trade back when, and found Axelrod to be a sloppy writer. He guessed a lot about fish he never kept, but he never revealed that he was guessing. He's the source of a bit of myths and fishlore in the hobby as a result. The words could, maybe, might or possibly were ones he could have used. Baensch was better at working with a larger group of skilled aquarists and tended to admit when he was guessing, and to base his texts on quality info.

Oliver Lucanus has done a couple of beautifully photographed habitat based books, and I have heard good things about Ivan Mikolji's book, though I haven't seen it yet. Otherwise, fishbooks seem to be relics of a more 'popular science' era, when it was easier to explore within the hobby than it now. The internet is wonderful for knowledge, but fishwise, it is often very superficial.

 

[Ichthys]

I have Axelrod’s big atlas. It’s great… as a weight to keep my siphon tube in place on big tanks.
Klaus Paysan did an interesting book. Not a great deal of info but lots of fish. It was good in it’s day.
Neal Pronek’s Oscar book. Set me up for twenty years of Oscars. Lamboj’s book is great for ‘westies’.

 

[Alice B]

my favorite is The Complete Fishkeeper by Joseph Levine. Out of print quite a while, but it answered questions I did not know I had. I had the library copy for about a month. Couple of years later ordered on amazon and it was some other library's cull. Doesn't matter to me

 

[Byron]

The first 4 came out in English. I have them.

My favourite book is still Sterba’s Freshwater Fishes of the World.

I missed volume 4 somehow... . Yss, I have the Sterbai book too. Fewer fish species, but good information from an authority.

 

[Blackghostknifekid]

I have Axelrod’s big atlas. It’s great… as a weight to keep my siphon tube in place on big tanks.
Klaus Paysan did an interesting book. Not a great deal of info but lots of fish. It was good in it’s day.
Neal Pronek’s Oscar book. Set me up for twenty years of Oscars. Lamboj’s book is great for ‘westies’.

I have a personal dislike of Neal pronek. his description of most of the oddball fish in his book(s) was incorrect. Granted he wrote said books when little was known about those fish.

 

[emeraldking]

My favorite aquarium book is "The Innes Book, Exotic aquarium fishes" by Dr. William T. Innes.

 

[Blackghostknifekid]

Baensch makes Axelrod look like a beginner. The atlases cover pretty well everything you could keep up to 20 years ago, which is more fish than are available in the shrinking trade now. The Mini Atlas from TFH looks very mini in comparison to the first 3 volumes of Baensch.

These books are generally out of print though, like almost all aquarium books.And since the trade stopped abruptly around 2008, the nomenclature is frozen at that period of research.

My favourite fishbook is Anton Lamboj's work on cichlids of West Africa, mainly because I really like those fish and it is a superbly done (but now slightly dated) book. Weidner's Geophagus book is great. Christian Cauvet did a good killie intro, but just in French. Hellner did a good one in English translation but it is rare now. Innes gives you a great book from the early days of the hobby - lots of hacks in there from the pre-technology era. Add Baensch, the holy trinity books of fishkeeping, and you can learn a lot.

I worked in the fishbook trade back when, and found Axelrod to be a sloppy writer. He guessed a lot about fish he never kept, but he never revealed that he was guessing. He's the source of a bit of myths and fishlore in the hobby as a result. The words could, maybe, might or possibly were ones he could have used. Baensch was better at working with a larger group of skilled aquarists and tended to admit when he was guessing, and to base his texts on quality info.

Oliver Lucanus has done a couple of beautifully photographed habitat based books, and I have heard good things about Ivan Mikolji's book, though I haven't seen it yet. Otherwise, fishbooks seem to be relics of a more 'popular science' era, when it was easier to explore within the hobby than it now. The internet is wonderful for knowledge, but fishwise, it is often very superficial.

Granted he was a questionable person (he possibly evaded taxes). His books have all I have used to identify fish. His tank sizes for numerous fish was very off ( the tank size for arapima Gigas was 52 gallons or 200 liters. Not right. He didn’t acknowledge its full size of 15 ft instead he said 60 cm.

That was very off.

 

[Mr Limpet]

My favorite aquarium book is "The Innes Book, Exotic aquarium fishes" by Dr. William T. Innes.

I have a very beat-up copy of the 19th edition that I purchased back in 1978. It’s the only one of my many aquarium books that includes the pronunciation of scientific names.

 

[emeraldking]

I have a very beat-up copy of the 19th edition that I purchased back in 1978. It’s the only one of my many aquarium books that includes the pronunciation of scientific names.

I've got the same edition.

 

[GaryE]

I have several editions. After Innes' death, dear Mr Axelrod made additions to the book, and I prefer the older editions. I find them in thrift stores and such, usually dirt cheap. I have the 1966, 1972 and 1979 versions here by my desk, with the first two very beaten up looking. I would love to see one of the pre World War 2 versions.
It has an enthusiasm to it that's pleasant to read. No posing, all exploring. That never becomes outdated.

My beef with Axelrod's work isn't the criminal convictions and overall villainy of the guy. It's the confidence that served him well as a con man - if he says it, he believes it. It gave him an almost monopoly on US fishbooks in his time, and he was a celebrity for sure. There's good stuff in his books, but Baensch was a different type of writer, and I can't overstate how much better that series is.
If you can find copies, go for it.

 

[Blackghostknifekid]

Thank you all. I have ordered some.

Baensch 1 and 3
Exotic aquarium fishes by Innes.