Customer Reviews

Natural Aquarium

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

 

 

This is a beautifully photographed book, with many ideas for creating natural or biotope type aquarium setups. They range from heavily planted setups to rocky Rift Lake tanks. There are suggestions for fish, plants and technical considerations. The book does not go into large amounts of detail about individual fish species or habitats, but if you are looking for inspiration on aquascaping your tank(s), it is one of the best books I have seen on the subject.

This book looks very nice. But after reading it i was greatly disappointed. No news, just traditional aquarium setups. And the setups not remotely loking natural. To many species of plants organized like a suburbian garden, not like the wildernes af amazon jungle river or pond. The authors are not very creative. No new suggestions on which materials to use, and on top of that, the book is full of adds, and do deliver any objective or new perspectives on the technical setup of a fish tank that could help you create the illusion of a natural aquarium. all in all Dissapointing

I recieved this book about 4 days ago and looking through it find it a great resource. They used some very unusual method of prniting the images, they are super glossy almost like photos stuck into the book ratehr than a printed page. Very clear images. A little more info on tending for plants, substrate and filtration would have been great too.
all in all well worth the purchse.

This book is ideal for someone who wants some ideas about aquascaping, plant layout, plant selection and different planted regions of the world. I'm no plant expert, so while the information may not be accurate scientifically, it is certainly accessible to the average fish hobbyist.....Which is exactly what I wanted. If you want detailed information about which plants are compatible with fishes in nature, this book is not for you. This is not a book about fish. I was thrilled with the dated design and kitsch copy-write. There is definitely a Japanese influence here.
I recommend this book if you are after some great pictures, and some ideas for a beautiful planted tank. Check out the mangrove tank and the African riverbank!

I think the title and subtitle are not appropriate. The designs are not "natural", but they do exhibit good design principles. What I like about this book, over say Amano's, is that they show you how to do it. There are over 20 different layouts featured, exhibiting several different biomes. In each case, the authors show you a good photo of the finished product, then they give plan view and perspective drawings of the design elements (plants). All of the plants in the design drawings are labeled! So you can see exactly what they did. Complete specifications are also given as (DATA) too: water temp., tank dimensions, illumination stats, substrate, etc. This is an affordable book now and well worth the price.

I find myself repeately browsing the stunning photos for ideas. The data tables are a very useful list of optimal water conditions for each habitat. This is not a biology book, but an excellent resource for someone who wants to plan an aquascape. This book lists combinations of plants and fish (a very helpful start, in a hobby with thousands of options.) Now I can narrow my search for specific information on specific species of plants and fish from other books. This is a book that I go back to over and over.