The Aquarium Fish Survival Manual

by Brian R. Ward

Book Overview

How to set up and maintain aquariums, and meet needs of the fish. Has colorful photographs of over 300 freshwater and marine fish plus aquatic plants. The one comprehensive reference every aquarium owner should have.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812056868
• ISBN13: 9780812056860
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.8" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Great Set-up Guide and Reference Manual

I give it two thumbs up - or five stars. :-) I agree with a previous reviewer that indicated that it is his best aquarium reference book. The only thing that I would like to point out about this book that might make it slightly confusing to a prospective reader is that the author apparently resides in Britain. I found a few discrepancies in fish naming compared to pet shops in my area. Also, after I first set up my aquarium, my fish became ill with what the author refers to as White Spot. When I went to the pet shop looking for medication for White Spot, they didn't know what I was talking about. As it turns out, White Spot is known locally as Ick or Ich. If I had paid closer attention when reading, I would have noticed that the scientific name begins with Ich. To me, these are minor inconveniences in an otherwise well-written and well-organized book. In addition, the color photographs are excellent, making it easy to identify a species. I highly recommend this book.

A very good book for the beginner and intermediate

This book is a very good all-round book; it both deals with setup and maintenance of the aquarium (location, filters, heating, water quality, etc), and has a lot of pictures of common plants and fish. It puts the various fish into categories like whether they function well in a communal aquarium, where they mostly stay in the tank (bottom, middle, top), and what their preferred food is (plant, livefeed, dried food). This is a book you will find yourself returning to again and again for reference. Highly recommended!

Still my best reference book...

This book has a lot of information in it. It is written plainly, and is easy to understand. Sometime it gets a bit to detailed for the beginner in some sections like lighting. As a reference for plants and fish (fresh/marine) it's a good book to start with. In 12 years of fish keeping I have seen few books that can match it, especially for the price. I bought my copy back in 1995, and although I have many other books on the shelf on aquaria, this is the 1st book I grab.Cons: This book is written in Europe, so some of the equipment they picture is not available here, but it still gives you lots of facts & rules of thumb on fish keeping that you can use. It is a little short on water "how to" manipulate water attribute, it only talks about pH, ammonia, and nitrite levels. Water hardness, iron, and CO2 level info is missing, much more a beginner and intermediate level book.