Aquarium Style [Hardcover]

Matthew Christian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000

Here are innovative ways to bring out an aquarium's natural beauty and make it the centerpiece of the home. At the heart of this volume are detailed instructions for creating thirty different stunning aquarium design themes. For instance, the "Transparent" theme uses glass beads instead of gravel, incorporates bottles of different shapes as fish shelters, and suggests stocking the tank with semi-transparent glassfish and glow light tetras. Other decorative schemes include a "Zen Garden," a "Rocky Mountain" look, a tropical jungle-like "Color Frenzy" theme, and others. More than 200 full-color illustrations include photos of finished aquariums, detail photos of fish and plants, and diagrams of the aquarium plans. General advice includes basic instructions on correct heating, lighting, filtration, and airflow features. Live plants are also discussed, both as ornamental features and retreats for the fish.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764152807
• ISBN-13: 978-0764152801
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 9.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,608,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some beautiful ideas, some questionable ones, January 4, 2001

By 

Botia (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aquarium Style (Hardcover)

As a worker in a tropical fish store, I really enjoyed this book. It had some beautiful ideas for natural-looking tanks that are specific to locality, but the most interesting are the modernistic styles that are featured. One involves using clear flat glass marbles, light bulbs, and large spherical light fixtures to create a surreal field of white-on-white underwater bubbles. I'd hate to spoil the surprise by describing each of the strange and interesting ideas here, but one of the most important things this book does is give folks a stepping stone for future creativity. It's easy to take these ideas and run with them to create stranger and more interesting fish tanks.

The questionable part, however, is that I'm not certain how comfortable fish are in white-on-white settings, which is what three of the ideas involve. Many times their colors wash out, they get stressed, and typically start looking for a place to hide that isn't there. However, there is room for improvement on the examples, if a person is creative enough to give it a try.

My other comment is that the eventual result of aquarium life is algae, brown and green usually. I would hate to see people bleaching off their substrates (the flat glass marbles) and removing beneficial bacteria just to remove something that makes the tank appear flawed. These sorts of substrates aren't really all that good for supporting a tank, either, due to a lack of surface area. I would go so far as to recommend a fluidized bed filter as a biological supplement to larger tanks set up this way, or use a 3-way filter (mechan, chem, bio) on smaller tanks. Many of these would be great as ten gallon displays, if given the correct set of fish. As one example, Scats are a recommended fish for one of the setups. These are delicate and should only be placed in an already conditioned tank--and they need brackish water (small amount of salt added) to survive.

I believe that this book is better off in the hands of an experienced person, or at least anyone trying to set up one of these should talk to a knowledgeable person about the finer details.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars OBNOXIOUS Suggestions, INACCURATE and INHUMANE!, September 10, 2002

By 

Sunny (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aquarium Style (Hardcover)

This is one of the WORST books I've read on fish keeping. This book offers recipe style layouts for plants, rocks and fish. On page 40, author suggests using 150 cardinal tetras for a "medium-sized" tank. What is a medium sized tank to you? 30, 40, 50, 60 gallons? Well, if you are going to house 150 tetra, you'd almost need 150 GALLON if you use the 1" fish/gallong rule. I don't know about you, but 150 gallon tank is not "medium" sized in my mind!!! On page 122, author tells you to use 30 spotted scats in a medium-sized tank. These fish can grow to be 12" each. You'd need a 360 gallon tank to house all the adults. This book does not take into consideration the adult size fish. If you are new to fish keeping, RUN from this book like it's on FIRE! This book forsakes fashion before function in the worst manner. It would be INHUMANE to use ANY of these suggestions. Overcrowding fish can only lead to stress which can result in disease, stunted growth and possibly death.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disgusting, June 6, 2001

By 

Mike Wickham (Rogers, AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aquarium Style (Hardcover)

I saw this book at a local book store. The cover made me think it would be photos of beautifully decorated natural aquariums. Instead, I was disgusted to find most of the decorative themes could best be described as industrial. One suggested setup had a tank with eggbeaters stuck into the gravel, instead of plants! Others are just as attrocious. If you want a book about aquariums with style, buy any of Amano's _Nature Aquarium World_ series.