[.uk] Tropical Aquarium Fish (ISBN 3893561315)

Excellent Beginner Book:
This book has been presented in a clear and concise manner containing all pertinent information to aquarists. Good quality pictures along with exact values (or ranges) of water constituents will aid beginners in good husbandry techniques. This book should be the first reference for any beginning aquarist. Also an adequate book for the more experienced aquarist. Previous reviews have taken shots at the books lack of sufficient common names. THIS SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM SINCE WE USE SCIENTIFIC NAMES TO CLASSIFY SPECIES OF FISH. There is some bias towards Tetra brand foods, but overall this book will prove an indispensible reference.

Book Delivers Less Than Expected:
I found "Tropical Aquarium Fish" by Dr. Chris Andrews and Dr. Ulrich Baensch to be a disappointment. That is not to say the book has lots of valuable information; on the contrary, there are many sections which will inform. There are, however, a number of things that, when taken together, make investing in this book a poor choice. First off, the physical book itself is cheaply bound; after having my copy for only two days there are pages which are wanting to fall out. Next, the contents of the book itself. The book contains multiple spelling errors. Not just the difference between British and American English, but downright errors. I also found species listed which did not list all of the common names associated with a fish. An example which might throw one new to the hobby is the listing for the "Blood Tetra", which is commonly seen in pet stores as "Serpei Tetra's". I also found the continuous use of the word "shoal" to be somewhat bothersome. I had to keep mentally telling myself it meant the same thing as "school" when referring to fish. And, lastly, for an edition labeled "Comprehensive Edition" it was surprisingly vague in a lot of areas. Use of the term "Unknown" is frequent; little is said as to why it is unknown. And, there are frequent descrepancies between what is written in the "Suitability" column and what is said in the "Important Pointers" column (example: says "difficult to maintain" under Suitability, and under "Important Pointers" it lists the fish as being simple to maintain. As a sidenote, although the book is sponsored by the Tetra Company, one gets the feeling after having read the book that tropical fish cannot survive unless fed strictly Tetra Foods products. The book does leave oneself feeling they have just finished reading a rather lengthy ad.