The Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder [Paperback]

Martin A. Moe Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1992

A practical handbook on the theory and methods of keeping and breeding marine tropical fish. This updated and expanded edition describes the basic types of marine aquarium systems, with an emphasis on the traditional under gravel filter. Tank construction and selection, saltwater collection and makeup, filters and filtration, physics and chemistry, setup and maintenance, disease and treatment, foods and feeding, captive breeding Everything you need to know to set up and maintain a successful saltwater aquarium.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Martin Moe is a professional marine biologist and commercial marine fish breeder. He is the author of several books and is internationaly know for his contributions to the marine aquarium hobby.

Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: Green Turtle Pubns (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939960079
• ISBN-13: 978-0939960071
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a retired marine biologist, marine aquaculture, author and self-publisher. I now live in the Florida Keys. It's been a busy life, and I'm still going strong. I enjoy writing, I've authored books and many articles and scientific papers, most back when the technology that produced the written word was based on typewriters and Eraserace typing paper, although I did advance to computers in the early 80s.I am very interested in all aspects of science, but primarily marine science. Publishing in the past almost always depended mostly on what someone else (they call them editors) thought of the craft and, most importantly, the commercial value of your work. Now these are important and will always remain important. But I think the internet and ebooks are taking publishing from the paradigm established by Guttenberg into the age where every thinking individual can find a voice that will reach around the world, and that voice will ultimately be limited only by the consensus of public opinion. In other words,one can now paraphrase the old adage "The only dumb question is the one that is not asked" into "The only inconsequential book is the one not published". So I am in the process of revising many of my books and writing some new ones and publishing them as ebooks. It is a daunting task but an exciting one.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great beginners book, wonderful advice, July 13, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder (Paperback)

This book helped me setup my first marine aquarium. The advice on setup, run up and maintenance is well written and interjected with great wit every once in a while. It is packed with very useful information. The book is very close to a perfect marine starter manual. It's only flaws lack of some graphics (such as the disease section) and in organization. That is the only reason I did not give the book a five star rating. These minor flaws are easily overlooked and overshadowed by the wealth of the book. If you are a first time marine aquarianist (as am I) this is a well-written, excellent book to start with. If you have been in the hobby for a while, it is an excellent reference.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Old Testament gets an update, April 12, 2010

By 

Bass Cadet (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder (Paperback)

Before The Reef Aquarium (the New Testament) and The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium (the European New Testament), the Marine Aquarium Handbook was the go to book, well regarded by marine aquarists. It is subtitled: From Beginner to Breeder. This is an accurate assessment as it contains all the information needed to take a person from complete novice to experienced breeder.

I bought my tank used, originally planning to keep freshwater fish. The seller encouraged me to try saltwater and threw in a copy of this book. It really opened my eyes and I quickly progressed from saltwater tank to full reef tank. Along the way a pair of fish spawned and I raised their offspring to maturity and even sold some. From there I spawned several other fishes and was really into the hobby, even going to the local coastline and collecting wild plankton. This book was the main reference for anything fish related. I did refer more to the two other series for coral and invertebrates information.

What is updated? There is information about live rock, live sand beds, and macroalgae. The fish selection section has been enhanced, especially about compatibility. He includes Scott Michael's recommended fishes for small, medium, and large aquariums. And his marine fish breeding section has been expanded and updated significantly. He kept the undergravel filter chapter. I like this for two reasons: it is useful to have this information even if for background only and these filters are still applicable for breeding systems. The troubleshooting charts have also been kept intact (even the floating cookie) but many full color pictures have been included throughout the text. The ones in the breeding section are particularly informative and impressive. For saltwater fish, this is still the best book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nearly complete book, January 8, 2002

By 

Gary S. Dawson (Syracuse, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder (Paperback)

Moe covers most of the parts of setting up a first-time marine aquarium with aplomb and humor (his troubleshooting section includes "water pooling around tank" and "cookie floating in tank"). The only drawbacks to this book are a lack of illustrations and there is no real species profile to speak of. Since many, if not most, people start with an idea of what kind of fish they want to keep and work (backwards?) from there, a section would be helpful. But the information in the book will complement a species-focused book quite nicely.