Marine Aquarium Keeping [Paperback]

Stephen Spotte (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1993

The science and common sense behind creating an inexpensive, flourishing marine aquarium Marine Aquarium Keeping is the first complete, step-by-step handbook to bring scientific perspective and insight to the practical basics of assembling and successfully maintaining a conventional marine aquarium. While minimizing gadgetry and underscoring a simple, commonsense regimen of looking, seeing, and understanding, author and marine biologist Stephen Spotte offers logical, chapter-by-chapter guidance to every facet of the hobby--from choosing equipment and setting up an aquarium, to selecting healthy animals and maintaining a flourishing underwater environment. Inside, readers will discover:
* How to make a new aquarium suitable for sustaining life
* How to select healthy animals from species demonstrating good captive survival
* The step-by-step basics of routine maintenance
* How to easily meet the nutritional requirements of marine animals
* The key to disease prevention
* The use of seawater and artificial seawaters
* The living subgravel filter
* Aquarium decorations as shelter spaces and as aesthetic features
* The marine aquarium as a living community
An extensive health and disease section offers detailed, easy-to-follow treatment regimens, several unique to this volume, for a variety of common diseases. Current controversies and popular myths surrounding aquarium keeping, such as the benefits of supplemental light and the superiority of plastic filtrants, are also examined. A wealth of black-and-white and color photographs that strikingly depict marine animals in their natural habitat bring key facets of the text to life. Indispensable to the amateur aquarist who appreciates both the beauty and science of this fascinating pastime, this newest edition of the popular classic is the complete guide to successful, inexpensive marine aquarium keeping.

Editorial Reviews

Review

. . . Marine Aquarium Keeping will provide the neophyte aquarist with the basic and practical knowledge needed to start a marine fish-only aquarium, and sustain a stable and healthful environment. A good value for the price. -- Anonymous, Marine Fish Monthly 8(12):, January 1994.

A no-nonsense practical guide for beginners and enthusiasts. Fifteen chapters navigate aquarists through the science and common sense of equipment, animals, maintenance, health and disease, communal living, and other topics. Photos, drawings, and color plates complement the readable text. -- Anonymous, Fishery Bulletin 19(1): 51, January 1994.

Dr. Spotte makes his beliefs very clear at the offset of the book: "keep it simple," no need for elaborate, expensive mechanics to maintain a marine environment in a home aquarium. Just follow a few basic rules, often obvious and always explained in a simple, illustrated manner and success is almost guaranteed. . . . Overall, this is a gook that should be required reading for any hobbyist. . . . On a scale of 1 to 10 this second edition of Stephen Spotte's Marine Aquarium Keeping has to rate a 9 for economy, practicality, and ease of understanding. -- Peter A. Lewis, Freshwater and Marine Aquarium 17(1): 150, 152, January 1994.

Simple, effective equipment and procedures are listed, with in-depth explanations of topics that are often misunderstood. . . . For beginning hobbyists as well as frustrated, aquarists, this book presents a path to successful marine aquarium keeping. -- Thomas A. Frakes, Seascope (Aquarium Systems), Vol. 11, winter 1994.

This is a no-frills no nonsense book about marine keeping keeping written for beginners, but with sufficient information to be a useful book for experienced aquarists. Stephen Spotte is the leading writer on marine aquariology in the world. . . . Concise explanations of the theory of the various aspects of the marine aquarium hobby are what set this book apart from the other ordinary texts. . . . If you want detailed colour diagrams of how to actually prepare the new aquarium, there are better books, but if you want to know why, this book is so far ahead of anything else written, that it can be the only book to buy. . . . The book is packed full of 175 pages of information. . . . This is the essential reference book for all marine aquarists. Essential reading - it should be on your shelf! -- Andy Horton, Glaucus (British Marine Life Study Society) 5(3): fall 1994.

[this book's] straightforward style and sensible ordered explanations put it in a class of its own ahead of any other book on the subject. Essential reading. -- Anonymous, Aquarist and Pondkeeper, December 1995.

From the Publisher

Completely rewritten to incorporate the latest knowledge developed over the past eight years particularly on diseases, nutrition and fish behavior. Abstracts invaluable information from the author's more comprehensive book Captive Seawater Fishes. Features 89 black and white and 60 full-color illustrations.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 175 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (July 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047159489X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471594895
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,787,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 Stars!, December 30, 2000

By 

Erik Brooks (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marine Aquarium Keeping (Paperback)

A great reference, but not the best book to start out on. The writer is set in his ways and does not talk about all the options, just what he thinks is best. The three pages on filtration only talk about a subgravel filter, with on mention of live sand and rock. However, it is otherwise very though and would be very helpfull. A good book to have, but you should plan on buying others.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Teaching people how to hatcing brine shrimps., July 22, 2001

By 

sfo (Johor Bahru, Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marine Aquarium Keeping (Paperback)

This is the book that I am looking to learn the know how of hatching brine shrimps. I haven't finished this book yet so i only can tell you what i felt before i purchased this book.

Before i got this book I found this book is a bit old ( slightly out-dated or out-dated ) in every espect. The info that they given seems does not saying more about the filtering systems, tank setups, and so on in more details. So this is the most disadvantages of this book. The books does not have much details on the details of the Marine Fishes, reefs, lightings, and so on.

This book does generally teaching or telling what is Marine Fish keeping and teaching those very basic things on the aspects of marine fish. They just telling you what is the important espects of taking care of Marine fishes. They are seems good in the Maintenance, foods & feeding sections only. The info's that they given is very good for peoples want to know what to do when he or she want to hatching brime shrimps. They even teach what, when, how to do in general language. Its a very straight forward explainations so it is good for people who does not know much about Marine Fish. If this book is for those people who want to use for referrences in details and i think this book is not be enought resources or info to make people to know about the technical know how about Marine Fishes. I am not saying that this book is not good. I am saying that this book is suitable for people who want to know what to do with hatching brime shrimps??? Feedings and Maintainance's. SO i would like to introduce people to know about this book is Good in these chapter 10 which is Maintenance and Chapter 11 which is Foods and Feeding.

I noticed that most of the books do not cover well about the Hatching Brime Shrimps, and the collections of seawater. Teaching what to do with the Seawater that you collected from the Sea.

OK I have to stop here, because I felt that this is the only things that i want to say.

Before I wrap it this messaage, this is what i want to say.

This is a Good Book for those people wanna to know how and what to do with Collections of sea-water from the Sea and the know how of Hatching brime shrimps.

Thats all.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dustin Smiths review, December 31, 2000

By 

Dustin Smith (Centralia, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marine Aquarium Keeping (Paperback)

This book is great. I have found that in my time of marine fishkeeping that this book has become of great importance to me and my fish. I would recommend this book to anyone, beginner or avid, fishkeeper. If you purchase this book you will surely become an expert at the art of fishkeeping.