Product Description

Discover the fascination of an aquarium with this expertly written, beautifully illustrated introduction to all aspects of keeping tropical freshwater fishes. Featuring 200 of the world's most beautiful tropical freshwater fishes, detailed instructions for setting up a basic freshwater aquarium and over 500 photographs, illustrations and drawings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108177 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From the Inside Flap
Discover the fascination of an aquarium with this expertly written, beautifully illustrated introduction to all aspects of keeping tropical freshwater fishes.

About the Author
Dick Mills is an experienced fishkeeper and author with a very clear understanding of the needs and aspirations of beginners to the aquarium hobby. His ability to explain unfamiliar and often quite complex concepts in a clear way is put to good use in the first part of this book. Dick has an excellent 'pedigree' in the fishkeeping world, having kept a wide range of fishes over a period of more than 20 years and pursuing an active involvement in the Federation of British Aquatic Societies, for which he regularly lectures and produces a quarterly News bulletin. He is the author of several books on a range of fishkeeping subjects.

Gwynne Vevers, M.B.E., M.A., D.Phil., F.L.S., F.I.Biol., followed a distinguished academic career in the zoological sciences culminating in his appointment as Curator of the Aquarium at the London Zoo, a post he held until 1981. In addition to undertaking biological expeditions to places as far afield as Iceland and Solomon Islands, Dr. Vevers found the time to write, translate and edit many books on the subject of aquarium fishes. His broad experience is reflected on the pages of Part Two of this book

Excerpted from The Encyclopedia of Tropical Aquarium Fishes by Dick Mills, Gwynne Vevers. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Fishkeeping, although not a new hobby, now bears little resemblance to its form of 100 years ago. Tehcnical advances, especially fast air transportaton, have resulted in a modern, satisfying hobby that appeals to people everywhere.
Concentrating on the history of fishkeeping would not necessarily introduce the newcomer to the hobby. Naturally, he wants to 'get on with it' as soon as possible. Therefore, the first section of this book will concentrate on preparing a modern-day aquarium for its living occupants, whether they are fishes or plants. However, respectful recognition is given to those pioneering aquarists whose effrts have have made the hobby as popular as it is today.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Photographs

An encyclopedia it is not, but it is a good honest little book that will help you through the problems that you may encounter with keeping tropical fish. If you follow the rules in this book you should encounter very few problems, but all fish-keepers have an occasional problem. Whether that be fish that do not get on together, or a case of white spot (a disease that can affect tropical fish, usually if they have a sudden change of water temperature. This disease can easily be cured by the introduction of a `medicine' that can be put into the water and is available from your tropical fish supplier.

Another point is that like humans not all fish get on with one another and this book will help you to ensure that all the inhabitants of your tank get on well together.. The book features over 200 fish popular with tropical fish keepers and although I have not counted them the blurb says that there are 500 colour photographs.

As I said at the beginning, not an encyclopedia but a book that is well written, by people who know what they are talking about, with lots of information for both the beginner and those who have kept fish for some time. There is always that snippet of information that has gone to the back of the mind of even the most competent of tropical fish hobbyists.

Excellent book for beginners
As a new keeper of tropical fish, I have found this an excellent reference guide. Easy to read with beautiful illustrations a must for any beginner.

It gives advice on setting up your tank and most importantly which fish are friendly and which are not as well as information on fish disease and their causes.

A good guide

Good luck

Leah