Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
On the positive side, as I said, the fishkeeping advice is good. Additionally, while the "biotopes" given aren't real biotopes at all, the author does provide useful advice on how to simulate what I call "bio-types": the substrate, water flow, and other features of particular types of aquatic environments, such as river, lakes, and mountain streams.
Bottom line: If you're interested in setting up tanks that recall a certain type of aquatic environment, and aren't particular about whether or not the fish and plants you include are actually found together in nature, you may want to investigate this book. However, if you're interested in creating a true biotope aquarium, one intended to to be a snapshot of a specific environment, such as a Lake Tanganyika rocky reef, a small stream in Thailand, or a Rio Negro floodwater, look elsewhere. Despite the book's title, you won't find the information you need here.
-Clear Water Rivers of the Central American Landbridge -Belly Sliders and Bottom Hoppers: Fish from River Rapids -River bank with Fallen Foliage -A Lot of Wood: An Aquarium for "Antenna" or Tentacled Fish -Overgrown Bank -Rocky shore or Beach Zone: Careful Fish Among Large Stones -Rubble or Scree Zone in Lake Tanganyka -Underwater Deserts: Life in the Sand
The descriptions and suggestions are somewhat biased towards the Central-Southern American Region, except (obviously) for the last three chapters which focus on the African lakes Malawi and Tanganyka. Asia and other parts of Africa are not given much coverage while Europe and North America don't feature at all. The author seems also to be very fond of cichlids of all types and origins and I believe this book could prove quite useful to someone considering getting into these and making their first, general choices. Personally, I find that this book has taught me some about the way different kinds of fish live but not enough of any particular kind to make a serious attempt at creating a biotope aquarium. The many photographs are mostly of fish in aquariums. Moreover, although the book does still contain some 60-odd photographs of field photographs, these are mostly landscape, above-water pictures of rivers, ponds, etc. Only a few pictures actually correspond to actual underwater scenes from nature and most of these are of the lakes Malawi and Tanganyka. Overall, I find that this book is good introduction to biotope aquariums, and would be useful for people trying to make choices about biotope types and those who would like to know what their fish are now missing in their home aquariums. It is not, however, provide enough information to attempt to recreate a real biotope with a reasonable degree of faithfulness, and does not take into account regional variations (gouramis from India-Sri Lanka are thrown in with the Thai, Malay,! etc, for example). -A good coffe-table book!
On the positive side, as I said, the fishkeeping advice is good. Additionally, while the "biotopes" given aren't real biotopes at all, the author does provide useful advice on how to simulate what I call "bio-types": the substrate, water flow, and other features of particular types of aquatic environments, such as river, lakes, and mountain streams.
Bottom line: If you're interested in setting up tanks that recall a certain type of aquatic environment, and aren't particular about whether or not the fish and plants you include are actually found together in nature, you may want to investigate this book. However, if you're interested in creating a true biotope aquarium, one intended to to be a snapshot of a specific environment, such as a Lake Tanganyika rocky reef, a small stream in Thailand, or a Rio Negro floodwater, look elsewhere. Despite the book's title, you won't find the information you need here.
