Aquarium Fish Handbook: The Complete Reference from Anemonefish to Zamora Woodcats [Spiral-bound]

Derek Lambert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2003

Aquarium hobbyists looking to add variety to their tanks will find color photos and concise textual profiles of more than 400 species of freshwater and marine fish. This book's easy-reference format points out key characteristics of each breed and gives information on its origins, physiology, and maintenance requirements. Each entry includes an at-a-glance guide that notes feeding habits and compatibility with other fish. The color photos are detailed to show markings and other distinguishing features. Major freshwater groups include cichlids, characins, labyrinth fishes, catfishes, loaches, cyprinids, and others. Among the marine varieties are angelfishes, damselfishes, blennies, pufferfish, eels, groupers, and Atlantic seahorses. Here's a reference volume that merits a place on every aquarium hobbyist's bookshelf.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:


"Whether readers are longtime keepers, looking to start an aquarium, or are simply fascinated by fish, Aquarium Fish Handbook is the ultimate fish breed handbook. This concise, full-color, visual reference volume merits a place on every aquarium hobbyist's bookshelf."


—SirReadalot.org, 2004

From the Back Cover

[back cover]


the aquarium


fish handbook





* How do you choose the perfect complement of fish for your aquarium? How can you understand the nature and behavior of these slippery creatures? Discover an underwater world with this invaluable guide to over 400 species of freshwater and marine fish.





* An easy-reference format reveals the key characteristics of each breed, along with its origins, physiology, and care-needs. Each entry includes an at-a-glance guide to basic aquarium requirements, feeding habits, and compatibility with other fish.





* Detailed photographs of each specimen clearly show its extraordinary markings and distinguishing features in glorious full color, and form a delightful visual reference. Whether you are a longtime keeper, are looking to start an aquarium, or are simple fascinated by fish, this is the ultimate fish breed handbook.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 256 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series (December 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764157132
• ISBN-13: 978-0764157134
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,291,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm returning this book, July 23, 2004

By 

Blorkiemom (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aquarium Fish Handbook: The Complete Reference from Anemonefish to Zamora Woodcats (Spiral-bound)

I've got to disagree with the previous reviewer, Gen, on this one! I would NOT recommend this book. It is very attractive with lovely pictures, but I found it full of errors and contradictions. Here are a few I found in about 20 minutes of browsing:

page 12: the graphics of tropical and marine fish are reversed, making it look like it's okay to keep 36 inches of marine fish when it's really 9 (the text is correct)

page 103: the Altum Angelfish is desribed as "an extremely difficult and delicate fish to keep," but the it gets a 1 (easiest) on the "ease of keeping" scale. Huh?

Numerous examples of fish being given a "safe with small fish" symbol, but being described in the text as eating small fish, See porkfish (page 239), flame hawkfish (238) and long-nosed hawkfish (239), for example.

I bought this book to help me select peaceful marine fish that would be reef-safe, but because of these issues it's useless to me and I'm returning it. It's a shame, because it is a great-looking, well-organzied book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars WAKE UP THE PROOFREADER!!, July 26, 2006

By 

R. Compton (Blountsville, AL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aquarium Fish Handbook: The Complete Reference from Anemonefish to Zamora Woodcats (Spiral-bound)

We recently had the MISfortune of checking out the book: "THE AQUARIUM FISH HANDBOOK" from the library as we are beginning to get into tropical fish. While the reviews and cover-page blurbs sound glowing - within a few hours we found that the book was confusing (to say the least) on many points!
The first point is the "Minimum Volume" symbol; 24, 36, 48, 60, or 72 WHATS? The "Key" page says it could be "...gallons/liters or ... cubic feet/meters." There's a BIT of difference between a liter and a cubic meter, isn't there? If these are 'relative numbers' then 'relative to WHAT? Tank size, fish population, square inches, ???
Then there are the illustrations on page 12! On the bar graph "Tropical freshwater" is blue and is supposed to represent 1 inch of fish per 12 sq. in. of tank, "Tropical marine" is pink and represents 1 inch per 48 sq. in. but in the charts at the bottom of the page - the "tropical" box shows 9 pink fish while the "marine" box shows 36 BLUE fish! All in all, those calculations are correct but reversed! Then, to add insult to injury, the calculation for "Coldwater": four hundred and forty two divided by ONE HUNDRED and thirty? The proofreader was napping on this one!
The other "Oopsie" we have spotted in our cursory scan through the book was on page 103, re Altum Angelfish. The little Hand Symbol of dificulty rates this fish as number ONE or "Easiest to care for" while the "Special care" paragraph of this section states "This fish ... is an extremely dificult and delicate fish to keep"???? Which is it?
And this is just from a brief scan through the book from a simple, logical viewpoint. Paraphrasing the TV show "CSI": "little mistake - BIG mistake"! With these errors that should be easy to spot in the book - can we REALLY rely on the OTHER data presented therein? It is not too great a stretch of imagination that just these errors and confusions I have named could cost someone a good deal of effort, time AND money if someone relied 100% on this book! Clearly, we are glad that we checked the book out of our local library - for FREE - and didn't waste our money on it!

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful colorful aquarium guide, January 23, 2009

By 

CA Koi Friend "JoAnn" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Aquarium Fish Handbook: The Complete Reference from Anemonefish to Zamora Woodcats (Spiral-bound)

I bought this a long time ago, and love using it. My grown daughter has had an aquarium, so I bought this as a gift for her since I like it so much. It is a beautifully illustrated guide, logically catagorized, and very easy to use and to find info that you need. I strongly recommend it for anyone who loves to keep or know more about aquarium fish (freshwater and marine) 5 stars!!!