Customer Reviews

Konings' Book of Cichlids and All the Other Fishes of Lake Malawi

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

 

 

Mr. Konings has provided the african cichlid enthusiast with a lavishly illustrated reference work that covers the vast majority of mbuna encountered in the hobby as well as rare open water cichlids. Also included are photos of many non-cichlid species of fish (catfish,etc.) found in Lake Malawi. Detailed descriptions of each type of cichlid are given including size, spawning behavior, diet, and habitat. An excellent book!

This book is excellent for someone who is more interested in identifying lake malawi fish as opposed to general information on how to properly keep these fish in a home aquarium. For someone who is not a beginner, this definitely is a must have book. The pictures are great and there is a whole lot of information on lake malawi and the general characteristics of each fish. Buy this book, it will be a decision you will not regret.

This is one of my favorite books. Once again Ad Konings does a wonderful job of presenting the fish of Lake Malawi.

This book provides the Konings typically wonderful photos of virtually all of the fish and color morphs. The information provided on each fish is excellent as well.

This is a must have for the serious cichlidiot.

While this book has some great pictures in it, and the information about the species and lake is good, the arrangement of the species could really use some work. For some reason, Konings has decided to to arrange the species based on outdated classifications, something he acknowledges doing. The reasoning for this is not entirely clear, maybe its because he's an old fuddy-dud who insisted on using archaic and inaccurate classifications. This alone could be forgiven, after all, the book was published over 10 years ago, at a time when the more accurate classifications were still relatively new. However, what is more confusing is that konings has changed the names of the species to reflect the new system of classification. So while the species are arranged in the order of the old classification their names do not reflect this. For example, under the outdated naming system the Cyrtocara group of fish is arranged alphabetically as Cyrtocara ahli, Cyrtocara anagenys, Cyrtocara anaphyrmus and so on. However, Konings does not label these species as Cyrtocara xxxxx, rather he names them using their accurate names of Sciaenochromis Ahli, Exochromis anagenys, Maravichromis anaphyrmus and so on. Thus when you try and look up Otopharynx lithobates, rather than looking for the names starting with "O" you must flip randomly through the book (all 495 pages of it) or look it up in the index at the back. Needless to say, this becomes very frustrating. Oh, by the way, I hope you can read German, because about 10 pages of the book are written in it. I'm not sure if this is a problem with only my copy or with all of them but it too is very annoying. (maybe that explains why the book sold for almost 40% off) Anyway, despite these problems the book does contain some good info and pictures and as a coffee table book it succeeds wonderfully, particularly if your guests don't know much about fish. However, as a reference book it is inferior to much of the information and pictures that can be found on the internet. My adice: check out www.cichlid-forum.com for some good info on the species, then pick this book up to impress your friends.

This is one of the most poorly produced books I have ever encountered. At least 25 text pages have been left in German--what was the publisher thinking?--and the design is atrocious. It will be a cold day in Hades before I buy another TFH Publications book.

Ad Konnings is an expert in African cichlids and this book shows it lucidly. His detailed explanation and pictures make this book a must have for any old world cichlid keeper.

Ad presents an excellent understanding of West African cichlids without becoming as dry as his predecesors. He avoids discussing the rapidly booming hobby but still includes many of the "common" names often associated with these fish in pet stores.