Customer Reviews

Dr. Burgess's Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (Guide to Owning A...)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a good book to have when selecting marine fish for your aquarium. It has special symbols at the bottom of each photo (1900 in all) that tell you if the fish is hostile, sociable, what sort of diet it requires, lighting, etc. It also has a complete section in the back on aquarium maintenence as well as different diseases and parasites with accompanying photos. The only problem I have with this book is that it completely ignored marine invertabrates. I always keep shrimp and crabs in my aquarium to clean up the bottom, and it would be helpful if they were mentioned in the book so I would know which fish they are compatable with as well as diet and aquarium behavior. Crustaceans, anenomies, nudibranches, etc. are the most interesting and beneficial additions to a marine aquarium, and if the good Dr. would have dedicated a section to them it would have been a five star book.

This is a must-have book for anyone seeking to setup & maintain a salt-water marine aquarium. There are full-color photos and information on over 1900 marine fish, invertebrates & plants.

The book starts out with a basic description of the families of marine fish accompanied by b/w illustrations. Then the fish are arranged by family & displayed three per page in color. Both common & scientific names are given.

Symbols below each fish give information on food, light, temperament, tank setup, swimming habits, size & family number. There are also great sections on aquarium setup, fish care, diseases & their prevention.

Conveniently there are 3 indices. One is for aquarium setup. The others list marine life by either scientific or common name. Whether you are an experienced marine aquarist or have yet to set one up this is the book for you.

This book was probably designed for intermediate to advanced marine hobbyists. However, I bought it just getting into the hobby and it was invaluable for one reason. It shows every known fish, and as another reviewer says, talks about sociability, smallest tank size (big one), and diet. What was most useful for me was to help me design my ultimate tank as far as colors, types, compatability, etc without ever spending a dime. Well worth the money just for the comprehensiveness.

This book has been a huge help for me. I work for an aquarium and we are constantly adding new fish to our exibits. My job is to inform the public about what we are exibiting. With so many new additions it gets hard to tell who is who in the exibits some times. This book has allowed me to quickly look up the different fish by both scientific name and common name and gives me quality color pictures of the fish. It is sometimes hard to find the exact fish you are looking for and less comprehensive books do not have what you are looking for. So far I have been able to find everything I have needed and will continue to use this book till it wears out and I have to buy a new one. Definatly love this book and would not trade it for anything.

This book does a good job of identifying and classifying marine fishes. It clearly identifies the Feeding, Lighting, Compatibility, Tank Decor, Tank Level, Temperature, and Specific Gravity for every fish in the book. An index is provided using both the scientific names and the most common names. This book does not have any text on how to keep an aquarium. It's purpose is to identify fish!

This book is the only book I have seen with such a comprehensive listing of marine fish. I work in a pet store and countless times my fellow associates and I have used this book to figure out which fish we had actually received. No one in the marine fish trade can rely on common names alone. This manual allows for the reader to instead visually identify the fish and then find its scientific name. Any dedicated marine fish keeper should not be without this wonderful reference manual.

This book has endless pictures and drawings of fish. Many pictures are good, although there are plenty that appear as taken long ago with inferior film and recently scanned. It is a great to find a particular fish, especially if coloration is different. Here, many times there are many different pictures for a single fish to show differences which is very nice.

The book has icons regarding lighting, salinity, foods, etc., for each picture. The icons could o a better job showing compatibility or aggressiveness.

What this book does not have is a description that is very helpful to the aquariust such as "this fish will eat your hermit crabs", "this fish becomes a bully to conspecifics", "this fish may nibble corals" on either the family or species level. The short rundown on each family is not enough.

By all means buy this book to increase your collection, but if it is your first fish book to make selection choices, I suggest you look elsewhere and that is not even considering the price.

I read the other reviews before I bought the book, and I can't help but wonder if we're talking about the same book. Yes, it has really nice pictures, and yes, it covers a tremendous range of fishes, but the information is way too general to be at all useful. I will admit that my opinions result from being an aquarium owner, but I simply don't see any practical applications here for most of the general public unless you just want to see pretty pictures.

For those who are considering buying this book, I seriously suggest that, if at all possible, give it a quick read and find out what you're truly getting.

For me good, very excellent the book most complete of fish. Recomento for that they want a complete book, with simple texts, direct and photos.

This book is great for a wholesaler or store, or someone who is doing field research. But as someone who is trying to create a catalog of up-to-date species listings, it is lacking updates from older editions. Pictures of preserved specimens are used, that were used in older editions, and living specimens are readily available. But the index is well written in three forms that may need updates of the common names in the next edition maybe?