What Fish? A Buyer's Guide to Reef Fish

This buyer’s guide to reef fishes presents fact-filled, color-illustrated profiles of 180 specimens that marine aquarium hobbyists can select to stock a truly fascinating and beautiful tank. Author Phil Hunt, an expert on reef aquariums, tells how to set up and maintain a reef aquarium, and guides his readers with detailed advice on coping with common problems. The fishes profiled in this book range from those suitable for virtually every reef aquarium to others that should be kept with a restricted selection of corals. The fishes shown and described include:

Damselfishes and Clownfishes * Tangs and Surgeonfishes * Angelfishes * Hawkfishes * Wrasses * Basslets * Dartfishes * Tilefishes * Blennies * Butterflyfishes * Gobies * Triggerfishes, and many others

Each profile includes details on what the fish eats, its compatibility with other fish and invertebrates, its hardiness, its needs in relation to the tank environment, and a general guide to its retail price. Approximately 250 color photos.

Reef Secrets: Starting Right, Selecting Fishes & Invertebrates, Advanced Biotope Techniques

This is a beautiful book. There are lots of great pictures. The book is an excellent resource for those who are starting a reef tank. There are thorough and informative chapters on issues such as set-up, live rock, lighting, fitration, feeding, etc. The sections on selection & care of corals, other invertebrates, fishes, and algae are excellent. Issues of care, compatibility and conservation are addressed for all species.

I did notice a couple of incorrect pictures, but this is a very minor problem.

Overall, this is an excellent beginner/intermediate book by a pair of recognized and respected authorities in the field. Their superb 4-volume series is beyond the budget of most at a per-volume list price of around $90. Most of what the average new reefer needs is here in this book. It is an excellent value for the price.

A Guide to the Selection, Care & Breeding of Corals for the Mini-Reef Aquarium

Dr. Herbert Axelrod continues to pass on his aquatic prowess in this book for coral enthusiasts. Novice reefkeepers should definitely invest in this book as it is very easy to read and understand. Experienced reefkeepers would even profit from having this book in their aquatic library for reference at any time, as it is thorough in all the typically kept hard and soft corals. Each coral is given its own color-coded review for difficulty of keeping and put into one of three catagories, green for beginners, yellow for experienced keepers of corals, and red for those who consider themselves experts. On the whole this is a great reference for anyone who is considering keeping corals, either for the first time or continuing to keep them after years of experience.

Aquarium Designs Inspired by Nature

This lavishly photo-filled volume demonstrates that having an aquarium to be proud of means much more than keeping fish in a glass tank. The aquarium enthusiast who takes his hobby seriously reproduces a part of the aquatic natural environment in miniature inside his home. Author Peter Hiscock offers practical instructions on setting up a freshwater tropical aquarium. He describes substrate, aquarium plants, and appropriate combinations of fish. Much of this book focuses on fish and plant life in nature, and then offers details on replicating natural settings in the aquarium. Both plants and fish varieties are shown in vivid color photos and described in detail. More than 450 color photos and illustrations.

Setting up a Tropical Aquarium Week by Week

Setting Up a Tropical Aquarium Week-by-Week is an encyclopedic reference that takes a fresh look at setting up and maintaining a tropical freshwater aquarium. New hobbyists are quite often impatient to set up their aquarium and want to add their expensive fish as soon as possible. This common misstep can have disastrous results that may discourage beginners from ever trying again.

To curb such enthusiastic impatience, this book presents clear step-by-step practical advice in a convenient week-by-week progression. The book uses detailed photographic sequences to follow each stage of setting up a warm water freshwater tropical aquarium in real-time over a period of ten weeks.

The set-up procedure starts with the first day, when the substrate and life-support systems are installed and progresses to the point at which the first fish are added - two weeks later. The book then follows the aquarium's development during the next eight weeks as the tank turns from an artificial environment into a living eco-system.

Alongside the main aquarium set-up sequence are photographs that show how to create two different aquascape designs based on a cube and a bow-front tank.

Profile sections show fifty aquarium plants and one hundred popular warm water freshwater aquarium fish at relevant stages of the set-up process. Throughout, the book explains the natural processes that occur so that fishkeepers can ensure ongoing success.

Combining clear text and simple-to-follow illustrations, Setting Up a Tropical Aquarium Week-by-Week is a crucial reference for tropical freshwater fish hobbyists.

Purchase the Book at Amazon.com for $19.77

About the Author

Stuart Thraves is an internationally respected authority in fishkeeping.