Customer Reviews

Damselfishes & Anemonefishes (Reef Fishes)

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

 

 

Yes, the paper is not quite as good as on the previous volumes. But given the skyrocketing price of paper, this is no surprise. It is still perfectly adequate and the images are top-notch. It is no surprise to me that this has expanded to multiple volumes given the economics of publishing such low-demand books.

Scott Michael's series ultimately will be the most comprehensive series on marine fishes for aquarists. They are a treasure trove of useful information. I only hope they can get the rest of the series published in a timely fashion without compromising the quality and quantity of information.

Still would buy it but I was disappointed in the fact that they keep dragging the series out. Originally it was suppose to be 4 books..........then it went to six....Now it is nine books according to the newest book. I would agree the quality is not as high as the first 3. Still the information is good. Still I will have NINE BOOKS in my Library instead of 4. Lastly who knows how much longer it will take to release the rest.

Anyone who's read the previous installments knows exactly what they're getting with this fourth entry in the series; a high quality, well researched and beautifully presented tome. Yes, the paper type has changed but is plainly of high quality, durable stock and I have zero complaints about it. Considering the prevalence of point light sources around reef aquariums, the change to matte paper is welcome.

For those unfamiliar with the series, this book isn't really a stand-alone fish book so much as an addition to Reef Fishes: A Guide to Their Identification, Behavior and Captive Care, Vol. 1. If you're well acquainted with keeping salt water fish this book alone will suit you just fine whereas the big fish keeping tips are housed in vol. 1. This is a good thing as it spares us all the redundant information at a savings that is passed on to the consumer.

A fantastic book on the tough, scrappy, yet humble, damsels. The only caveat I'd offer is that if your interests lie primarily with the anemonefish, Clownfishes is, in my opinion, the superior book. For a book about all things damsel, however, this is the best I've seen.

Everything written by Scott Michael is EXCELLENT! He's my favorite aquatic author. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND all of his books!

Any collection strong in aquarium building and marine systems moving beyond the very basic need Damselfishes and Anemonefishes, a definitive reference covering nearly seventy families and thousands of species. Divers, amateur reef naturalists and other neo-pros will find Damselfishes and Anemonefishes packed with specific details and plenty of tips on how to successfully keep healthy aquariums. Bright color photos throughout supplement the many technical and practical details.

This book's excellent content is certainly equal in quality to the first three. Economics being what it is, I can understand the slightly lower paper, and cover, quality of this volume. As to the number of books in the series, while more books will ultimately cost more, I'm inclined to believe that the actual scope of Mr. Michael's project grew beyond his original anticipation, and the amount information in the set will be worth the cost, and the wait -- although I really want the rest NOW! Good things take time. Hang in there, Scott... And, BTW, I note from the preview of the next (wrasse) volume the page count will be higher than this volume, which further justifies the additional volumes.

While the content of this book is outstanding inline with the rest of the series the publisher of this book took many shortcuts including useing lower quality paper stock then previous volumes, decreasing the size of the book and increasing the size of the series in order to make more profit. I am highly disappointed in the publisher for taking these steps. What was originally supposed to be a 3 books series grew to 5 books with precious releases and with the release of this book has grown to 8 with each subsequant book in the series containing less information than the last.