Mini-Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes

Both common name and scientific name with each photo and contains more than 1900 photos in full color!

By Dr. Warren E. Burgess, Herbert Axelrod and Ray Hunziker, TFH Publications; 2nd edition (April 1997)
Hardback - 1,023 pages, 3.5 pounds!

Mini Marine Fish Atlas

The fish book is thick! It has over 1,000 pages and weighs over 3 pounds. This book can be a good resource for identifying many different marine fish species. There are many, many species represented with full color photos of each. You will probably want to get this book mainly for photo identification of your particular fishes. There is not a detailed profile on each fish, just the photo and some graphics that serve to represent warnings or high level care information. Until you get used to it, you will refer back to the symbol key multiple times to remember what a particular graphic means. These symbols will clue you in on some different requirements of the fish such as food, lighting levels, behavior traits and recommended aquarium decorations.

There is a rather lenghty and informative saltwater aquarium setup section at the back of the book that is worth reading. Some of the information in the setup section is dated, however, and you can kind of tell that it was written some years ago. The areas covered in the tank setup section:

Aquarium types, the stands, lighting, heating, aeration, and some other initial setup information.
The many available aquarium filter types and the importance of filtration. Activated carbon, ion exchange resins, water polishers, etc. are covered.
The aquarium nitrogen cycle is covered at length.
Auxiliary Equipment is also discussed. Items such as protein skimmers, ozone and ultraviolet light (uv sterilizers).
Water Quality - detailed section on specific gravity, pH, carbonate hardness, oxygen, redox, phosphates, copper, etc.
Setting Up and Maintenance - The authors provide a six step process on setting up a marine aquarium along with their recommendations on maintenance tasks and intervals.
Handling Fishes - this part of the book is on collecting wild saltwater fish, explains cyanide collecting, tells you what to look for when selecting specimens from your local pet store and provides information on compatible tank mates.
Quarantine, Fish Diseases and Treatment - You guessed, this part explains quarantine methods and fish disease.
Fish Food and Feeding - covers the vitamins, fats, proteins, carbohydrates and minerals that fish need. Culturing different live foods is also explained.
Marine Algae - this part of the Mini-Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes is all about Marine Algae. Lighting requirements, nutrition and the classifications of many types of saltwater algae.
Breeding Marine Fishes - the last part of this book provides tips and techniques on breeding some different marine species.

This can be a good book for anyone wanting to identify various marine species on sight. But if you're wanting detailed information on any particular species you will need to refer to other sources. It is definitely worth the purchase price just for all the pictures and scientific names of the fishes covered. We give the Mini-Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes 4 stars

Visitor Reviews and Comments

Add Your Review or Comments!