Customer Reviews

The Marine Fish Health & Feeding Handbook: The Essential Guide to Keeping Saltwater Species Alive and Thriving

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a tank keeper for twenty years and have read every book written on the subject. This new book by Bob Goeman's is by far the the most comprehensive, up to date,accurate, well written, and organized book to have been published in several years. The chapters on feeding and maintaing the health of the corals and fish are outstanding but there is so much other information in the book about the latest techniques of maintaining salt water aquariums. The book's title could have been "Everything You Need To Know To Maintain a Spectacular Marine Aquarium". There are at least a hundred beautiful photos and the information is cutting edge. Your tank can only benefit by your reading of this book!. It should be part of every "Reefers" library.
Dr. Paul Carpenter

I've successfully kept tropical marine aquariums in all sizes and shapes for almost thirty years - I started with a baby lionfish in a then-fashionable perspex cube and my last one was a ten-feet long, 240-gallons beautiful monster of a tank housing a whole complex reef community. I think I can safely say that Bob Goeman's new book is an exceptionally complete, well-written, easily understandable, beautifully illustrated guide to the do's and dont's of reef keeping which should not go missing from any serious marine aquarist bookshelf. I wish something of this scope had been available in the past - it would have saved me quite a few heartbreaking disasters!

Dealing with the dietary requirements of marine organisms has long been an issue and this book sets some ground rules one can build upon. The connection between good nutrition and disease has been long know, but no book has discussed these two intertwined themes to this extent before. Of course, even with the best diets one may be able to provide, diesease and parasites will always be present. Understanding and identifying diseases and parasites, as well as their weaknesses and possible treatments, lies at the crux of maintaining a healthy aquarium. This book discusses all the currently known diseases and offers remedies and, most importantly, how to avoid bringing these organisms into our tanks.

A Marine Bibel that should be in any serious aquarists library.

I am just about to start up a saltwater system after years of having freshwater and I decided to do my research first. This book is definitely one to read especially for the beginners! It has loads of information on proper feeding and care of your saltwater fish. The great thing is it has loads of information on how to treat various diseases and what is more effective than others. I definitely have the confidence in caring for my upcoming fish after reading this one! I think everyone who has a saltwater system should own this!

Beginners and experts alike will find this 'missing manual' covers all the basics of health and feeling challenges to keep a home aquarium active and interesting. From buying and acclimating new fish to keeping fishes healthy, understanding early warning signs of system problems, and treating common diseases, over 100 color photos accompany a fine survey.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

As a marine aquarist for over thirty years and a professional for twenty five years, I have waited for such a book to come around. The in depth coverage on fish disease and plain text makes it a valuable resource for both the professonal and hobbyst alike. I have purchased a copy for all my staff. Richard Oellers President New England Aquarium Services Inc.

This is definitely a MUST READ for anyone contemplating the setup of a marine aquarium. It is very well written, easy to understand and covers all the issues (diseases, parasites, nutrition and fussy eaters) that can pop up with new fish. As I am a beginning salt water aquarist (40 years with freshwater) it has provided exactly the type of information that is required to maintain, treat and make the tank inhabitants as happy and as stress free as possible. Happy fish live longer and don't get sick. Do yourself and your fish a huge favor - buy this book.

When you look at a book on Amazon and see nothing but five star reviews you might start to feel a little bit worried that things are being exaggerated. This is not the case with Mr. Goemans' and Mr. Ichinotsubo's book, it is worth every star.

I picked up this book when I decided to get back into aquarium keeping, I had experience in the past with a 200 gallon FOWLR (Fish only with live rock) system keeping sharks that are generally very easy to tend and make it simple to spot signs of sickness. I decided to get both my feet wet with a reef system keeping "aggressive" fish. I currently have a delightful Snowflake Eel, a Leaf Scorpionfish, a colored Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish, and a Sea Goblin. I knew nothing about their dietary needs, what diseases might affect them, how best to prepare their food and keep them happy, healthy, and beautiful. I did a lot of research before purchasing each fish and spent a lot of time looking for answers this book was there for all of that process and still is. This will always be the very first tome in my collection of aquaria books.

I picked up a handful of books before The Marine Fish Health & Feeding Handbook but all of them covered very common parasites and illnesses that anyone with a few days experience in marine aquariums will know of. Most of the books didn't have pictures, and they weren't illustrated to show differences between scale types of how a disease might manifest between species. A few had feeding recommendations but they weren't anything more than a parroting of the basic information given by a pet store as opposed to an experienced friend or LFS (live fish store). In other words they were practically useless if you had access to Google.

In this book I found the knowledge of people who really love aquarium keeping and are dedicated to the habitats they create. There was a wealth of information that didn't necessarily apply to me because of the fish I keep but it was still relevant and appropriate because it gave me the necessary knowledge to help my friends and a broader understanding of marine life as a whole.

When you foray into the world of reef keeping or any form of the marine aquarium hobby you are bombarded with information and a lot of it is friend-of-a-friend's-friend-said nature. The books you pick up are full of complicated terms that may leave you boggled, searching high and low for a clear and concise answer to your question for hours. The Marine Fish Health & Feeding Handbook is written in plain and clear English, it has just enough brevity and plenty of clarity.

The information contained on feeding and dietary requirements was yet another bonus to this already fantastic book. I will never hesitate to reach for it, and I will always put it at the top of the list for any hobbyist: advanced or novice. You simply cannot go wrong buying this.

This book is exactly the reference book I was looking for in terms of information about feeding my varied saltwater fish. Most of the book deals with specific diseases fish can suffer, and so far I've been lucky enough not to need these chapters. Still, I'm glad to have those too as a reference.

I read this book from cover to cover. It's a great teacher and reference. It does a great job in helping you plan out an aquarium, from equipment to livestock choices. The modern, color pictures are very helpful, and the best part was the detail in fish descriptions and compatibility.

My only gripe was that the section on illnesses and treatment was rather thin. I could pretty much use this book as a standard in making decisions, but when it comes to dealing with sick fish, I was left to fend for myself in the wilderness known as the Internet. I wish that a revised edition would go into more detail on treatment options and methods for common illnesses such as marine ich. It takes a while to sort through fact and fiction when reading web site forums -- something that's not fun when you have a sick fish to treat.

Even though it was severely lacking in that section, the rest of the book more than made up for it.