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Reviews

This of course yet another miniature essential pocket expert guide book what it lacks in been a indispensible know-how reference book it makes up for in clear expert advice on captive breeding care in a bizarre sustainable enviroment

There is not too much to say about this guide other than it has just about every marine fish I could think of, and that it's great, and accurate! This is a must have for absolutely anyone involved in any way with saltwater tanks. Be sure to pick up the companion Invertebrate guide too!

Great book. Good information on saltwater species for tanks. tells you everything you need to know about the fish and how to take care of it.

Everything written by Scott Michael is EXCELLENT! He's my favorite aquatic author. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND all of his books!

I absolutely LOVED this book when I had my saltwater tank. It was invaluable for selecting the right fish for my set up. (Great detail on behavior, aggressiveness, space needs, whether or not compatible with coral, feeding needs, etc.) And the pictures can NOT be beat! Now that I am doing freshwater, I am trying frantically to find a book that was even half as useful and I am somewhat hard pressed. This book is a must have in my opinion.

Reviews

If your looking to get started in reefkeeping of just taking the hobby to the next level. From aquarium design to spawning clams this book will tech you everything and more than you will ever need to know about corals, water quality, lighting, propagation, etc... The book is rather expensive but so is failure in the hobby we all come to love. Spend the money and you will never regret it. Also try to attend local reef club frag swaps. Frag swaps are a wonderful way to meet local reefers in you area and see guest speakers. I have attended gatherings that Anthony Clafo has attended and gave an opportunity to have 1 on 1 questions with him. So in closing if you want to be the guy that gets asked the questions rather than asking questions buy the book. Also check out the C magazine for more species specific detailed information.

This book was more than I expected! Even though I do not plan on going commercial with coral propagation, there is a lot of great information in this book.

I am an aquarium fan, and I love new ideas and innovations and try to read as much oceanic and aquarium literature as I can. This is a great advanced book. Not so advanced that it's hard to read, but more advanced than someone who hasn't had a reef aquarium before. Mr Calfo shares some really cool ideas that have worked great for me and so far, this has been one of my absolute favorite aquarium books. I buy every one of his magazines too and love them as well. I wish I could get him or Mr Fenner or Mr Borneman to come to my house and help me with my aquarium...that would be my ultimate dream!!! Thanks so much for the great read Mr Calfo!

This is an excellent reference book for anyone who owns corals. I also have Borneman's and Sprung's Coral books (see links below), and between the three books I can find out most information I need on the majority of my corals. Anthony's book is newer than Eric's, and thus covers some information learned since then. The section on how to propagate corals is extremely useful, esp. as many corals grow big and need to be split. Yes, much of this can be looked up on the internet - but I believe having a reference book like this is MUCH more useful, and it is written in a great conversational style that makes it easy to read (it is not a dry textbook!) and understand, with lots of pictures. If you are going to keep corals in your tank, or just want to learn more about corals, this is one of the best books to own! Thank you, Anthony, for writing this! Here are the other two books mentioned: Aquarium Corals : Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History Corals: A Quick Reference Guide (Oceanographic Series) (Oceanographic Series)

The BOOK OF CORAL PROPAGATION Edition 2,is bigger and better then its predecessor! This new edition was rewritten to include even more information than the previous version. It is flooded with stunning photographs, updated techniques, and to top it off, it's published in a larger 8.5 x 11 format and HARD COVERED! Similar to the first edition, I also found that each chapter is written in an easy "laid back" conversational style, allowing for very quick reading and easy understanding much--like Calfo's speaking presentations. A must-read for new aquarists and pros alike.

Reviews

I bought this a long time ago, and love using it. My grown daughter has had an aquarium, so I bought this as a gift for her since I like it so much. It is a beautifully illustrated guide, logically catagorized, and very easy to use and to find info that you need. I strongly recommend it for anyone who loves to keep or know more about aquarium fish (freshwater and marine) 5 stars!!!

I concur with the other reviewers on bad proofreading. The icons cannot be relied on, even if you manage to figure out the mysterious equivalence between liters and cubic meters. Here's a couple other problems found in a quick read of a couple species I'm familiar with: Beta Fighting Fish (This book's symbols: Single Specimen and good community fish, minimum tank size 24 which is the same as most other beginner fish, but from reading another book they are happiest in 1 liter stagnant ponds with no other fish around to harrass them. I tried my beta in a 28 gallon tank and when three mollies were added, it showed signs of stress, so it is back in it's tiny tank and doing fine again.); Lyretail Black Molly is the only Molly listed while my pet store has a half dozen varieties.. Silver, Dalmation, standard tail, etc. (This book lists it as Single Specimen, not a community fish while another book that focuses on Mollies says these are happiest when scooling with others of the same kind.) The organization and indexing is not suitable for a beginner. Suppose you wanted to find the Molly, like I did. You would have to know it is categorized as a Freshwater Livebearer AND called Poecilia Sphenops, or look it up under the common name index Lyretail Black Molly (sorted with the L's). Or, do like I did and flip through the pictures until you find it. I'm returning this book and eagerly waiting for the 2nd or 3rd edition. Even though I really like the pictures, I need something more than a picture book.

We recently had the MISfortune of checking out the book: "THE AQUARIUM FISH HANDBOOK" from the library as we are beginning to get into tropical fish. While the reviews and cover-page blurbs sound glowing - within a few hours we found that the book was confusing (to say the least) on many points! The first point is the "Minimum Volume" symbol; 24, 36, 48, 60, or 72 WHATS? The "Key" page says it could be "...gallons/liters or ... cubic feet/meters." There's a BIT of difference between a liter and a cubic meter, isn't there? If these are 'relative numbers' then 'relative to WHAT? Tank size, fish population, square inches, ??? Then there are the illustrations on page 12! On the bar graph "Tropical freshwater" is blue and is supposed to represent 1 inch of fish per 12 sq. in. of tank, "Tropical marine" is pink and represents 1 inch per 48 sq. in. but in the charts at the bottom of the page - the "tropical" box shows 9 pink fish while the "marine" box shows 36 BLUE fish! All in all, those calculations are correct but reversed! Then, to add insult to injury, the calculation for "Coldwater": four hundred and forty two divided by ONE HUNDRED and thirty? The proofreader was napping on this one! The other "Oopsie" we have spotted in our cursory scan through the book was on page 103, re Altum Angelfish. The little Hand Symbol of dificulty rates this fish as number ONE or "Easiest to care for" while the "Special care" paragraph of this section states "This fish ... is an extremely dificult and delicate fish to keep"???? Which is it? And this is just from a brief scan through the book from a simple, logical viewpoint. Paraphrasing the TV show "CSI": "little mistake - BIG mistake"! With these errors that should be easy to spot in the book - can we REALLY rely on the OTHER data presented therein? It is not too great a stretch of imagination that just these errors and confusions I have named could cost someone a good deal of effort, time AND money if someone relied 100% on this book! Clearly, we are glad that we checked the book out of our local library - for FREE - and didn't waste our money on it!

I've got to disagree with the previous reviewer, Gen, on this one! I would NOT recommend this book. It is very attractive with lovely pictures, but I found it full of errors and contradictions. Here are a few I found in about 20 minutes of browsing: page 12: the graphics of tropical and marine fish are reversed, making it look like it's okay to keep 36 inches of marine fish when it's really 9 (the text is correct) page 103: the Altum Angelfish is desribed as "an extremely difficult and delicate fish to keep," but the it gets a 1 (easiest) on the "ease of keeping" scale. Huh? Numerous examples of fish being given a "safe with small fish" symbol, but being described in the text as eating small fish, See porkfish (page 239), flame hawkfish (238) and long-nosed hawkfish (239), for example. I bought this book to help me select peaceful marine fish that would be reef-safe, but because of these issues it's useless to me and I'm returning it. It's a shame, because it is a great-looking, well-organzied book.

I've been keeping fish for 17 years and this is the best book I have found that describes all the fish I've owned! Great descriptions on cichlids and includes scientific names and common names. Very easy to read (not tiny print and not boring). I love this book - the photos are clear and not all blurry or cheap quality. DK books photograph quality! The fact that it's spiral bound means I can lie down in bed and browse all the different fish without having to push the cover back. I can do my daily stretching while reading about fish! How relaxing and convenient! GREAT BOOK.