Customer Reviews

Dr. Axelrod's Atlas of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I ordered this book, my expectations were for lots of pictures and lots of info. on eating habits, breading habits, the differences between males and females, fish origins, etc. Basically, I was expecting the end-all-be-all of fishkeeping books. What the book actually turned out to be was a huge book full of nothing but pictures. Every single page is loaded with pictures. The pictures are great, and if that's all you want, then this book is right for you. There is a tiny (really tiny) bit of info. other than pictures. Each picture has a few symbols underneath which you can look up in a legend. These symbols tell you things like if the fish is an eggbearer or live bearer, and some general information. Not exactly what I was expecting. If you're expecting what I was you'd probably be better off getting a smaller book with more detail about the fish that are in it.

I was disappointed in this book since I already had the Mini Atlas and expected the full sized atlas to have the same features (such as text, and helpful information) as the Mini Atlas, just more of them. Instead it is nothing but photos from cover to cover.
This book just sits on the bookshelf untouched since the Mini Atlas more than covers most of the fish available out there - for a much more reasonable cost.

There are also some inaccuracies in the fish species.

You could buy a few better books for the cost of just this one, or just spend one-fourth of the price and buy the Mini Atlas.

This book is a must. Yes it`s full of pictures, but the simple identification key tells you the basics of almost every fish avaliable on the market today and then some. This book is very helpfull in identifying fish that are sold and possibly mismarked by the wholesaler or the retailer. The joy of fish keeping is just like any other hobby, find the rare and hard to find. This book will help you in that search. Remember, common names are just that, common. This book will tell you what you are about to buy, or what you already have in your tank.

NOTE: This review applies ot the 10th edition. Due to the cost, I have not been able to justify taking a chance on the new (11th) edition.

This book has changed a lot since the first edition. Mostly, it has removed information and added pictures. LOTS of pictures. It is more of a coffee-table book than any kind of aquarium guide. But even the pictures are of uneven quality. I was shocked that the only picture included for a couple of fairly common fish were of dead, poorly-preserved specimens. Yikes!

The authors' stated purpose for this book is "This book was created with the express purpose of making the identification of fishes easier for hobbyists, aquarists, and scientists alike."

Well, if that was the goal, it fails miserably. The book is organized based on geographic area where the fish originates. Think about it. If you saw a fish and wanted to know what it was, would you somehow instinctively know which continent it came from? Of course not. You might want to identify it based on its colors or shape or whatever. The book does not function as an identification guide.

Although most info has been removed, there is some very terse info below each picture as small text and icons. The text lists info such as pH, ideal water temperature (in Centigrade), maximum adult length (in cm), and minimum tank size (in litres). Although it does not tell you what these mean, any intermediate or higher fishhkeeper should be able to figure it out.

The icons are not particularly clear unless you already know the fish. For example, the icon for egg-scatterer versus livebearer is only obvious if you know what the fish is to begin with. More importantly, I can find nowhere in the book where it actually tells what the icons mean. This is very sloppy.

The index is also horrendous, failing to include a number of entries, and including numerous false entries. For example, the first page entry listed for Scleropages jardini sends you to a page that does not contain pictures of jardini, and in fact is a section for a different continent.

Even the quality of the pictures is uneven. For some fish, the coverage is extensive, with a lot of pictures showing different color strains, breeding colors, and so on. Yet for other fish, the coverage is incomplete. For example, there are three pictures of Silver Arrowana, and all three show just-hatched arrowanas. Why not show an adult? The fish changes as it gets older. Also, there are only four pictures of Astronatus (Oscars), showing only 4 color patterns. It's absolutely shocking to me that the abino and tiger albino forms are not shown. They've been in the trade for well over a decade before this edition was published.

My last complaint is that they have been adding pages by adding them as decimal additions. For example, they added 16 pages of pictures of Swordtails (16 pages!) after page 432, and numbered them as pages 432.01, 432.02, etc. The reason for this, of course, is that it means less work adjusting the index, etc., and 16 pages in one place from a publishing standpoint is easier, because it means not changing the rest of the plates. But from a reader's standpoint, it is sloppy and unforgivable, considering the price of the book.

To summarize, this book contains an incredible array of pictures. On the plus side, it has pictures of many fish you'll find nowhere else. It is massive and impressive. The pages are slick and glossy and the physical production standards are high. On the down side, it is badly in need of extensive, high-quality, detailed editing to correct the numerous glaring errors and omissions.

Frankly, this is overall a hugely disappointing effort and I simply can't recommend plunking down such a high price for this edition.

Dr. Axelrod's atlas is truly impressive in its scope to help the aquarist identify the numerous fish species available. Yet the book is more than just an illustrated compilation of fish; it is also a valuable reference resource on disease identification and prevention, as well as a useful pointer to the requirements of a particular species and an adequate if succint guide for the beginning aquarist. A must have for any aquarium aficionado.

There are a huge number of aquarium fish books out there,but none of them equal to this in size or number of photos. I own the 3rd edition of this book from 1990,and it has over 5000 beautifull photographs!The text is very short and easy to understand. I am a freshwater fish keeper myself,so when identifying some of the unusual fish species I have,this book is a great help for me. Something unusual with this book is that it covers many species that are not suitable for aquarium - that`s good,because when you see a 5-inch juvenile redfin catfish,can you imagine that it will grow to a 4-feet monster!Naw...So this book also keep you back from unsuitable species. Some species are especially treated in this book - for example,there are more than 30 species photos of the guppy!Over all,this book is a treasure for anyone interested in aquarium fish,and cannot be skipped,although the price is high. When I first received it for my 12th birthday,I was happier than ever!So go get it!

anyone looking for information such as location and habitat of a fish species will not want this book. it is just a book of pictures that will allow you to find and indentify a species you may have trouble locating elsewhere. this book is most handy for me after i have visited the pet shop and saw something that i have never seen before and don't trust the labeling in the store. my atlas is then my reference. for further information i will look it up on the web. to lookup information i need to know what i'm looking for and this is where this book becomes very important. no other single book that i know of covers as many species. the latest edition may have more photos than earlier editions but it may have the same number of species as earlier editions. however newer editions will have the latest scientific names (you can still use older names most of the times when searching as it takes some time for everyone to get used to the change). there are no common names used in this book (sometimes in the index next to the scietific) and there is no introduction to water chemistry, tank setup and the like that you may see in other books. it's greatest use is as a pictorial refernce with basic information (pH, dh, size, recommended tank size, agressivesness and sociabilty) on all the fish included. ...however i recommend the earlier editions at a much reduced price giving the same information (i believe the 6th edition and up are all pretty much the same- i could be wrong). i have the 7th edition ...and i'm more than happy. you may want to purchase the mini-atlas that has a lttle of everything before looking into the larger volume to satisfy your needs. i used this book as a quick refernce more than any other i have.

I see a lot of reviews about this book. One of the most popular gripes is, "but there's no text". Yes, it's true: it's a photo atlas of freshwater aquarium fishes. The most comprehensive I've found anywhere. This book works great for coffee tables, aquarium planning, window shopping, daydreaming, identification of fishes, etc.

Most importantly, you know the names of the fishes you are looking at. Once you have the names, you can search for more information on the internet, in other (text) books, in the library, or anyplace else. And besides, can you imagine how big this book would be (and how expensive!) if each photo had a bunch of text with it?

Impossible to offer more colour photographs of so many freshwater aquarium fishes in a single book. Enormous volume at an incredibly low price for such a lot of pics and pages. Details for every fish (virtually every fish available in the aquarium trade, and many that probably are already extinct or never been offered for sale) are under every pic. With more than 7,600 photos shown, it is normal that some are better than others regarding sharpness and trueness of colour, but the average is extremely good, allowing an easy identification. A must for the serious hobbyist.

Hi...I bought this book looking for a nice aquarium reference text and was extremely disappointed. I went on to buy Baensch's book and was infinitely more pleased. I was expecting more from the man who is almost like the Jacques Cousteau of aquarium fish. The text has excellent pictures, but, if you think you can easily find your most common local fish store fish in this tome by using the index, FORGET IT. Most of the fish I have in my aquarium I couldn't find, except, perhaps, by flipping the pages. I'd stick with Baensch's (will all due respect Dr. Axelrod). It's better organized, the index works and agree that it has a great plant section. Have fun.