Customer Reviews:
Great Place To Go Fishing.......2007-05-10
I have been in the aquariast hobby for quite a few years. Though I haven't had a tank set-up for almost 10 years since retiring from the US Navy and moving from Va. to Ga. I decided for the sake of the fish in my 150 gal tank it was best left behind in the care of my neighbor and best friend JD. I am now in the research and planning stages of setting up a 250 gal. reef tank. Since so much has happened in the last 10 years I felt it was wise to get some reading material for varied opinions and fact gathering. I now have 5 reference volumes to refer to. This book by Vince is not only a beautiful book with outstanding pictures but is my favorite. Crammed with every possible aspect of this hobby. From beginner to advanced the info is superb. In fact a Newbie could take this book as a stand alone reference from your very first Marine Fish only tank to an explosively beautiful Reef with Fish, Inverts, and Corals. It gives info on all the types of filtration from the Jaubert System,(My Favorite), to the extreme hi-tech route..Plan on spending major bucks if you go the hi-tech route. in my opinion the Jaubert System is as close to natural as you can get and the results I have seen from those using it match if not excel over much more expensive set-ups, but hey, back to the book. Every possible life form is fully described in easy to understand detail, inhabitant compatibility, location of origin, feeding, disease care, all of it. The way it is organized makes it superior for that "gotta have info right now" scenario when one of your prized specimens needs immediate attention. Though the diseases coverage is brief it is concise and easy to follow. This book is now among 2 that sit out on my coffee table. It gets read or at least browsed through alot by my visiting friends. Kids love the pictures. I highly recommend it for anyone from beginner to advanced. You can find higher priced books but non better. It's great buy at twice the price.
Great book for the marine aquarium hobbyist.......2003-12-08
I have positively oodles of books on fish behavior, diversity and ecology. When I brought this book home the wife asked "why do you need another fish book?" I will tell you like I told her.
This is the best book I have seen on the fishes commonly found in the aquarium industry. The fishes are arranged according to systematic (evolutionary) relationships, so it is in a format that is familiar to me, and more useful to people that are not already familiar with fish groups. Organization, however, is a minor part of a book. But the information in this book is also top notch. There is important information on hundreds of species referencing, feeding, care, availability and compatibility that is important when considering an addition to your salt water aquarium. There are also excellent sections on general aquarium keeping and reef inverts. This makes this a must have for any hobbyist. Lastly this is also a VERY attractive book, it now gets to be in the living room (near the aquarium where it should be) instead of in my library.
I didn't use those exact words with the wife, but you get the picture. If you're looking for a book on salt water aquarium fishes this is a great choice. Hopefully amazon will begin carrying it soon.
Book Description
Create the perfect aquarium for every type of fish.
The Complete Aquarium presents a systematic guide to aquariums based on freshwater and marine environments from all over the world. Clear, step-by-step instructions will guide you through planning, building, stocking, and maintaining any type of aquatic environment -- as well as an extensive practical guide to building and designing 16 diverse aquariums. Fully illustrated throughout with specially commissioned photographs and artwork, Complete Aquarium provides an informative catalog of aquarium fishes and their habitats.
Customer Reviews:
Complete Aquarium.......2007-02-06
This is an usual book compared to many of the others I have read recently but I like it. It contains many beautiful pictures of aquarium setups with step by step directions on producing the finished product. The various aquariums are representative of different habitats all over the world. It is a joy to look through even though you may not be creating a new aquarium.
Interesting book.......2003-12-14
I first bought this book looking for a book about building aquariums and was very disappointed. It is titled "The Complete Aquarium, A practical guide to building ....... aquariums". It, however, does not discuss the actual building of an aquarium, what it is refering to is the setting up of an aquarium. It does provide beautiful information for setting up theme tanks, ie. natural environment tanks from lakes, rivers, etc from around the world. It is also very attractive and well organized as is typical of a DK book.
I Should have saved my money.......2003-09-02
This wasnt the type of book for a newbie if you just wanted to know about fish. This is more of a HOW TO book for setting up different types of tanks. I guess it would be a great book if you were really deep into fish other than just wanting a nice community tank that looks nice and the fish wont eat each other.
Too much on set up.......2003-06-08
This book has good information on setting up a tank. It gives detailed information on fish and plants and how to set up different environments. However, for other things (i.e., illnesses, babies, etc.) we have needed another book for more information.
Good info on themed tanks , maybe not so good for beginners.......2003-04-06
This book does a great job of showing how to build different types of "themed" aquariums, be it a West African Floodplain Swamp or a Hawaiian Coral Reef. While these types of tanks are extremely beautiful in each of their own ways, I think that such projects are best left to more advanced aquarists and not beginners. I base this on a few reasons. For starters, many of the resources required to build these tanks are not common, and may require a lot of searching to scrounge up the necessary material (specific wood, substrate, plants, etc), basically a lot of things mentioned in this book I have never seen in any retail fish stores. Secondly, many of the themed tanks combine fish that are not suitable for a starting aquarist, who is not acclimated to the needs and wants of our fishy friends. I think
anyone who has maintained an aquarium and is reading this can recall mistakes that they made early on.
The "Complete Aquarium" does contain information on a community tank, which is fine for a beginner, but this occupies a small portion of the book comparatively.
Criticism aside, there are many good looking, full-color pictures and backgrounds on specific fish used in each tank project. There is also a chapter in the beginning of the book dedicated to the natural fish habitats and anatomy. If anything it is a nice book to have around if you ever want to undertake any of the "project" aquariums listed, or to read up on some of the natural habitats where aquarium fish come from.
Customer Reviews:
A Must-Have.......2007-03-28
Reading this book is like having an aquarium-expert friend to take shopping with you. The author tells you which fish are best for beginners, what fish shouldn't even be sold, what qualities a dealer should have, what equipment you should buy, what equipment is a waste of your money, what products are dangerous, what plants are no good but are sold for aquariums anyway, etc. I finally found answers to a lot of questions that other books didn't cover. The book discusses cleaning schedules, necessary floor strength, and moving concerns. It explains water chemistry as simply as possible. There is list of the author's favorite aquarium books and other info sources. He even tells you how you can reach him.
The reasons why I didn't give this book 5 stars are trivial: Hard to make out black + white photos and substandard proofreading. Still, everyone who has or wants an aquarium needs this book.
You have to read this if you are new to fishkeeping. Or you risk killing your fish........2006-03-17
Are you starting an aquarium? Well, I've been running one for a while, and my dad used to keep one, and I can definitely tell you that it is absolutely critical to have at least one fish book on hand in order to set up your fish tank properly.
To the book. So why is this so hyped and high rated? First of all, it doesn't lie. You will learn why water changes are important, what pH is, and why you don't keep oscars with neon tetras. You will learn how to position and set up your tank, and you will learn the difference between a canister and undergravel filter. And most importantly, you will learn how to keep fish. Like some others have said, this book does mainly focus on the care and setting up on the aquarium, so for the fish and plants it would help a lot to get a separate book that specializes in those, because his descriptions are not that detailed. However, I can nearly guarantee you that you will not fail in your aquatic endeavor with this guide at hand. Good luck, and may your filter never crash when you are on vacation.
The Complete Idiot's Guide To Freshwater Aquariums.......2005-09-12
This is a very good quide for the beginner. Mike walks through all the steps required for setup and maintaince of an aquarium. Gives good suggestions on fish & plants selections. If the steps in this book are followed the aquarist will have minimal problems to deal with.
Not much here for the experienced aquarist.
** For smart idiots! (who know what book to buy!)**.......2005-04-06
This is an informative, clear, funny, and brilliant book.
If you are just starting an aquarium, this is the book to get.
The beginning is all about the tanks, lights, and everything before the fish.
There is a section about fish but the photos are black & white so if you want to know more about the actual fish you probably want another book too.
Overall, a great book for beginners!
You MUST buy this book if you're starting an aquarium.......2004-06-18
WOW! This book was ESSENTIAL to our successful (and fun) entry into the world of fish and aquariums. Great tips, easy to follow directions and explanations of "what, why, when and why NOT", written in a funny (if somewhat corny) manner, this book is easy and fun to read. I actually found myself taking it on a trip - and trust me, I have NEVER taken a reference book on vacation unless I was expecting to work on vacation. So, this book gets five stars. Buy it used if you have to do so (we did). We bought five different aquarium books, and this one was the best, and we refer back to it often.
Customer Reviews:
everything you need to know.......2007-08-09
This book was amazing! I have purchased many books on seahorses and yours was the most knowledgeable and understanding with great tips. Thank you so much!
A good reference .......2007-05-30
This book is a nice, thorough, easy to understand, reference for the beginner. Short, well-organized with pictures. Not very detailed for the experienced marine aquariest.
Glad I bought it, but not as complete as I'd hoped........2007-03-27
I'm so glad this book is available and it will be a regularly referenced book in my library. I missed having an illustration that showed the anatomy of seahorses, however, when I was looking at one of my new dwarf seahorses anal fin yesterday, thinking it was a parasite (doh). I had to get on the internet to see an anatomy illustration. There are lots of photos of healthy seahorses, but none of what diseases look like, etc. (Although there is one of hydroids). There are no photos of tank set-ups either. I guess mainly it's the illustrations that are lacking in my opinion. But, lots of kudos & thanks to Alisa Abbott for her research and for sharing it with us, saving us from the things she learned the hard way.
Very complete.......2006-08-05
This touches all the bases. Very informational, but easy to read. If you want to own dwarf seahorses, get and read this book BEFORE you buy them! I wish I had!
EXCELLENT BOOK!.......2006-01-11
I purchased some seahorses, foolishly, when I had no information. The pet shop helped some but no one knew much. I purchased 3 books on the internet on seahorses and this was the only one that was ENJOYABLE reading! Very informative, factual, lots of good information and insight. Give her 10 stars! My tank became infested with aptasia (bad stuff), something her book told me all about and how to treat. Thanks!
Product Description
The basis of every reef aquarium is living coral, which depend on symbiotic algae in their tissues. The home coral reef is a careful balance of water and light conditions that nurture beneficial algae, starve noxious algae, and allow myriad other coral reef creatures to flourish. This manual advises on maintaining coral and the creatures that thrive in its environment: sponges, echinoderms, molluscs, crustaceans, and fishes, all of which can be included in a mini-reef aquarium. Many full-color photos. Paperback / 180 Pages / / 1997
Customer Reviews:
Way too technical.......2006-05-11
This book was thoroughly disappointing. Provided OK information, but was entirely too technical in its approach. If you do not have a Ph.D. in biology then do not bother with this book, you will not understand it.
compact reef guide.......2003-11-18
It should be rated at 5 stars but I give only 4 stars because of its technical nature and my beginner's comprehension. After that, it is a compact guide full of useful, hands-on info that helps the hobbyist create their own ideal aquarium environment.
No common name references.......2002-03-23
Don't get me wrong, this book is good, however... while reading the book, it uses mostly the scientific names for everything. It would be nice if after the scientific name, it has a common name in parenthesis, you know, using the names the fish stores use. Other than that, it is a decent book.
Five stars?.......2001-03-27
Yes, 5 stars! Pound for pound (and dollar for dollar) this is one of the best books on marine reef keeping you can buy.
I own several reef and aquarium books. They range from the brilliant, to the not-so-swift-waste-of-money types. The "Marine Reef Aquarium Handbook" by Robert J. Goldstein ranks waaaay up the list, kept from the top only because of its brevity.
This book touches on a LOT of topics, and it covers them in enough detail to really help you understand and apply what you need to keep your reef (or any aquarium) running well. Due to its (somewhat) small size, it does not cover topics in great detail. Depending on what you want, that may or may not be a good thing. There is however, enough information, written in plain English, for any aquarium keeper--from rank beginner, to the Old Man in the Sea--to learn something new.
No, this book doesn't contain the depth of information that one of those $80 marine reef books does. But it contains a wealth of information and will send you well on your way to starting up a reef or maintaining your current reef. Even if you're just looking for an interesting read, you can't go wrong with the "Marine Reef Aquarium Handbook" by Robert J. Goldstein.
Good reference.......2001-01-17
I like the pictures & the info is good for a reef beginner like me. I've had freshwater tanks for years, so the basic salt intro was what I needed & this fits the bill.
Book Description
These colorful fish are native to Central and South America, Africa, and Asia, and hobbyists will find them available in many colors and varieties. Titles in the extensive Complete Pet Owner's Manuals series provide pet owners with basic information on keeping healthy, contented, well-cared-for animals. The series includes approximately 175 titles and covers pets of every kind: dogs, cats, and birds of many breeds, as well as fish, reptiles, rabbits, hamsters, and just about any other animal that people keep as a pet. Facts and advice cover all aspects of pet care, which include proper feeding, housing, health care, grooming, training, and much more. The text in each manual is supplemented with many vivid, full-color photos, and with instructive, anatomically accurate line art. Each manual has been individually written by a breeder, trainer, veterinarian, or experienced animal specialist.
Customer Reviews:
Good Starting Point for beginners.......2007-09-05
I purchased this book awhile back when I was first getting into Cichlids. It has alot of useful info, and it's easy to follow and refer back to. It gives good tips, and informative basic overveiw. If you're looking for more detailed and/or species/region specific info, this isn't the right book for you. If you are just getting into the hobby, this is a fabulous choice!
Good beginners information for Cichlids.......2006-02-02
This books gives someone wanting to learn about Cichlids a good starting point. It covers several varieties, explaining their origins, behavior, breeding habbits and so on. It also gives some pointers on what varieties can coexist and some that shouldn't be mixed. Not all-ecompassiing by any means, but gives a person a good beginning overview to to Cichlids and to help you decide if this is the type of fish you want to put in your aquarium. I've read it to completion, am still interested and now am looking for more detailed information.
Product Description
Aquarium hobbyists will find everything they need to know about this interesting species of tropical fish. Books in Barron's Complete Pet Owner's Manuals series present basic information for new or soon-to-be owners. Advice and instruction covers feeding, housing, health care, and much more. Texts emphasize pet care basics and are easy for all readers to understand. All books in this series are filled with high quality full-color photos and instructive line drawings. Paperback / 96 Pages / 6 1/2 x 7 7/8 / 2000
Customer Reviews:
Good little book, but..........2003-03-31
Good little book, but some stunning errors in husbandry descriptions which could be a potential disaster for beginning Mbuna keepers. I highly recommend that aquarists look for at least a second opinion before choosing individual species as described in this book.
Best Little Cichlid Book I've Ever Read!.......2001-05-22
This is THE best little cichlid book for Lake Malawi. But don't let the word little fool you, this book is packed with information on dozens of Lake Malawi cichlids. I especially like that the book breaks down the lake's cichlids into the two main categories of mbuna and Haplochromines. There are over 100 excellent color photos of the most popular species accompanied by descriptions of natural habitat, size, husbandry requirements, diet, and breeding. I always take this book with me when I go to a fish auction or my local aquarium society meeting. There are other books that contain information on more species but none that gives you this much information at such a great price!
Excellent guide to Malawi Cichlids.......2001-02-18
Book Lake Malawi Cichlids describes natural habitats of Lake Malawi, different groups of cichlids and gives very good instructions how to set up aquarium that will match fish's natural requirements. It contains beautiful photos (some of them also taken in the nature!) and descriptions of some aquariums cichlids. It contains a lot of information given in very understandable way, I missed that in many other more comprehensive books. I recommend this book to all beginners and also to more advanced aquarists.
Average customer rating:
- It's just "OK"
- Good Manual to have.
- Well worth the price 4++ stars
- Where Are The Fish Supposed To Go?
- Best planted aquarium book [for this amount]
|
Aquarium Plants Manual (A Complete Pet Owner's Manual)
Ines Scheurmann
Manufacturer: Barron's Educational Series
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Similar Items:
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Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants
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Today's Essential Guide to Growing Aquarium Plants: The Aquamaster Series (Aquamaster)
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Aquarium Designs Inspired by Nature
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Creating a Natural Aquarium (Onterpet Handbooks)
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Nature Aquarium World Volume 2
Accessories:
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Plants for Your Aquarium
-
Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants
-
Aquarium Plants (Mini Encyclopedia Series for Aquarium Hobbyists)
ASIN: 0812016874 |
Book Description
For experienced hobbyists and beginners, here are short profiles on more than 40 different plants combined with details on selecting and maintaining water plants. There's even a section on how plants and fish interact in an aquarium. Ninety striking full-color photos.
Customer Reviews:
It's just "OK".......2006-07-31
Less than impressive small, thin paperback. Profiles only a small amount of species. There are at least a few errors: mislabeled photos and incorrectly identified species of plants and fish.
Good Manual to have........2005-07-07
This manual is worht the money and is very helpful in the types of Aquarium plants that work best with different species of fish and water conditions. I found this maunual to be well worth the money and very helpful and it does have diagrams to show you exactly what you're being instructed on.
Well worth the price 4++ stars.......2003-12-14
This little book is a very good value. It covers more than 40 different plants in its encylopedia section in addition to its glossary and several different info sections, including info on lighting, nutrients, selection and care. It gives more info about plants than can be obtained in the more general information books and is very inexpensive. It could be organized a little better but it is still very useful and very much worth the price.
Where Are The Fish Supposed To Go?.......2003-12-06
There are books out there that are sensitive to the interaction of fish and plants. This is not one of them. Please invest a little more money and purchase one of those other books. The sample layouts are incredibly overcrowded. Even some of the photographs reflect the overcrowding!
Best planted aquarium book [for this amount].......2003-02-14
Please excuse me, I'm about to gush. If you are just going to buy one book, and you have [little] to spend, buy this one. (If you have unlimited funds, buy this one plus Aquarium Plants by Christel Kasselmann).
As the planted aquarium chairman at our aquarium club, I get a lot of questions. The answers to most of them are in this book. It is a great beginner reference, but be sure to go back and reread it after you've been in the hobby for six months, because you'll learn a lot more about pruning, aquascaping, trimming, etc.
Just buy it!
Product Description
These vividly colored fish of the carp family are ideal for artificial garden ponds. Here is detailed information on koi varieties, advice on purchasing them and practical facts on feeding, breeding, and maintaining a healthful environment in your fish pond. Dozens of color photos and line drawings. Paperback / 104 Pages / 6 1/2 7 7/8 / 1995
Customer Reviews:
very good for the price.......2004-09-13
If this were an expensive book, I wouldn't rate it so highly, but it has more information than you'd think for a cheap little paperback. The koi varieties section is mediocre, but you want a big glossy hardcover for that anyway, right? The advice on koi handling and transport is outstanding, with great emphasis on minimizing stress to your fish. There is also information on plants, something most koi keepers disdain to mention. Another reviewer thought the author was against wheat germ sticks for koi--he's not condemning them, just saying there's no proof they make a difference in over-wintering. So much of koi advice is unsupported, it doesn't hurt to mention the fact.
Ok.......2002-06-04
Where's the part about behavior, the part about training your fish to come on over (admittedly this is easy) and how about a more comprehensive types and markings - it was also sad they really skipped over butterfly koi. Otherwise nice pictures and a good disease section.
Oh well. Nice book to have, but it is not by any means complete.
Good, but could be better.......2002-05-16
This book includes everything you need to take care of koi, but sometimes in too much detail. Many of the items in this book are exactly the opposite of what I have read elsewhere (e.g wheatgerm sticks are bad for koi??)
While too much detail is usually the problem, there are also many parts when there are not enough facts to actually understand what thi book is trying to say.
It's an OK beginners guide, but some parts can be tedious and confusiong.
One of the two books you need........2002-02-07
This book has all the information you need on keeping Koi. Don't let its small size fool you. I have browse through all available Koi books, this book is the only one you need. You will not get more information from other books, except for more pictures. Buy this book and another book titled "The ponder's Bible" for excellent information on pond building and maintenance. These two books will be more than enough for keeping Koi sucessfully.
Excellent.......2000-07-18
If you're a beginner at having a pond and keeping koi, this is a great book. It has everything from digging the pond, filters and pumps...to everything you need to know to keep the pond clean for your fish. The book identifys the various breeds of koi, with a complete section on diseases.
Average customer rating:
- Getting educated
- Very good beginner's guide
- Excellent book
- Not a First Guide Book
- Great and Simple Book
|
Your First Marine Aquarium (Complete Pet Owner's Manuals)
John Tullock
Manufacturer: Barron's Educational Series
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Similar Items:
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The New Marine Aquarium: Step-By-Step Setup & Stocking Guide
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Saltwater Aquariums For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback))
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Setting Up A Saltwater Aquarium: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet
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Water Chemistry for the Marine Aquarium
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Saltwater Aquarium Handbook, The (Barron's Pet Handbooks)
Product Features:
- Full Color Pictures
- Catch all Book
- Variety of Subjects Covered
ASIN: 0764104470 |
Product Description
Biologist and author, John Tullock, shares the secrets of his more than 20 years experience in marine aquarium keeping. He shows that by mastering a few simple techniques, and paying attention to the ecology of the aquarium's inhabitants, even a novice can create a beautiful coral reef in miniature. The book's emphasis is on proper design and careful selection of saltwater species, rather than reliance on costly equipment. Paperback / 80 Pages / 6 1/2 x 7 7/8 / 1998
Customer Reviews:
Getting educated.......2004-01-20
Wonderful book as an "introduction" to the world of starting and maintaining a salt water aquarium. It is excellent in giving anyone who is think of starting a tank the basics of set-up and more importantly, what to expect as the tank matures. My 75 gallon tank is now 4 months old and has done great right from the start in large part due to the knowledge I gained from this book.
Very good beginner's guide.......2003-10-03
Strengths: Good beginners' guide, including a 30 gallon tank setup, start-to-finish. Reasonable "fish compatibility" guide.
Weaknesses: Brief; the description of fishes/invertebrates for stocking your tank is pretty short. The salinity calculation is more complex than it needs to be, and lighting advice is dated.
John Tullock advocates a setup with lots of live rock, and with a protein skimmer. This is the preferred saltwater setup nowadays, as it sets up a mini-environment for your fish. He closes the book with a walk-through of a 30 gallon "mini-reef" setup, including curing live rock yourself (if you don't live where a local fish store stocks pre-cured live rock), which also includes fish recommendations.
Excellent book.......2003-03-12
Once I started reading this book I couldn't stop until I was done. I have fairly good experience keeping a fresh water tank but I never had a marine one, or for that matter I never read anything about it. This was my first book on the subject and I found it to have
all necessary information to get me familiar with what is required to start a marine tank and how involved is the process of maintaining it. The step-by-step guide on who to setup a mini-reef tank is also very helpful. I also liked the explanation of different filtration systems (Berlin, Smithsonian, Monaco).
The book has more text than photos so it might appear a little bit overwhelming. But that is good because the text gives good information and is well written. Not that this book doesn't have any pictures, it does have good ones, but there are some pages that are just text.
All in all I would recommend this book to anyone thinking about starting a marine aquarium. This book will tell you if that is something you can commit to or not. And if you choose to do it, this book would definitely be valuable as a reference.
Not a First Guide Book.......2001-10-28
I purchased this book as a "first exposure" to keeping a saltwater fish and reef tank.
It presented a bit wordy for someone unfamiliar to saltwater--and that turned me off right away. There didn't seem enough information to really get started, but too much for a beginner, if that makes sense. His other book "Natural Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms" (while it did have a very long introduction story) was much better in this respect (it had a Step-by-Step Starter Reef section that I think would have belonged in this book instead.) While "Your First Marine Aquarium" may look like a typical beginners book that you might take home with a tank and equipment, I don't think it covers enough slowly, basically, and simply to serve in this capacity.
Let me interject here that it is full of good pictures and has some useful reference tables.
After reading both of these books, I still don't understand the exact mechanism or technique of feeding either corals or marine fish--something I think is very basic and always simply covered in freshwater literature. If I had picked it up and looked this book over in the store, I would have put it back and bought his other book "Natural Reef Aquariums..." instead.
Great and Simple Book.......2001-04-08
Fantastic book. It keeps things very easy and helps people like me in doing the migration from freshwater to saltwater. This is the exact book to start.
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