looking for a good book

I was looking into getting a book on keeping natives. Can anyone recommend American Aquarium fishes by goldstein, edwards & harper ? Or another book. I saw the american darters book in someones collection but its to expensive (between $67 & $160 used online).

The best thing would be to buy all the back issues of American Currents and read them.

http://www.nanfa.org/cart.shtml#aconcd

If you want a book with good details on keeping fish then this free one is awesome. It's on rainbowfishes, but if you ignore the fish specific stuff then it would mostly also apply to NA natives too.

http://rainbowfish.a...org.au/Book.htm

If you wanted more information on what fishes are present in your state then one of the state fish books would be helpful. NANFA's webpage has a list that should be fairly up to date.

http://nanfa.org/books.shtml

Cheers
Peter

American darters or handbook of darters really don't have anything to do with keeping fish. They are more about their ecology and evolution. I woudl second Peter's suggestion about back issues of AC. You will get the experiences of many individuals, not one author.

Are you looking for general "How to keep fish alive" info, spawning triggers/successful fry raising for a specific native species, tank setups that imitate the wild habitat, or some other information?

Edited by EricaWieser, 12 December 2011 - 10:41 AM.

I've got a decent library on tropics ranging from your average how to set up a tank thru species profiles as well as specialized breeding & husbandry books. I was looking for a good balanced aquarium book covering a variety of N.A. native species of dace, darters & shiners (maybe the occassional madtom). I enjoy reading their local ecology but wanted input on actual captive care....esentially I want my cake & want to eat it too. I know at some point I will want to try breeding. I've bred 15 species of tropical fish (not including livebearers) & had one article published on breeding Bumble bee gobies (ascot monthly newsletter 1990/91ish). I'll definately have to pick up the a/c disc at some point.

Given that I'd suggest American Aquarium fishes and the American Currents CD. I seem to recall seeing copies of the book at recent nanfa meetings selling for a good price. Can't recall though who was handling those.

One big issue is that not all that many people take the time to breed natives fishes, and of those that do, fewer actually document it! Note that some AC articles are online, and there is a complete index too. http://www.nanfa.org/ac.shtml

Cheers
Peter

Given that I'd suggest American Aquarium fishes and the American Currents CD. I seem to recall seeing copies of the book at recent nanfa meetings selling for a good price. Can't recall though who was handling those.

One big issue is that not all that many people take the time to breed natives fishes, and of those that do, fewer actually document it! Note that some AC articles are online, and there is a complete index too. http://www.nanfa.org/ac.shtml

Cheers
Peter

I've used American Aquarium Fishes as a reference on many occasions. I purchased it before it was published due to a blurb in American Currents. I find it very useful in providing a short summary of the habitat, food, and breeding of individual fish species. Before going on a collecting trip, I check field guides to determine what I am likely to find and then check American Aquarium Fishes to determine whether I want to try to keep and breed the fish or just observe and release it. If I decide to keep and breed the fish, I use American Currents to learn more details. In addition, I think that American Aquarium Fishes still has one of the best collections of photos of native fish in print. Illustrations in field guides are superior for fish identification, but photos sometimes are better for determining how the fish will look when caught or kept in aquaria.

Phil Nixon

Edited by swampfish, 12 December 2011 - 05:48 PM.

I've used American Aquarium Fishes as a reference on many occasions. I purchased it before it was published due to a blurb in American Currents. I find it very useful in providing a short summary of the habitat, food, and breeding of individual fish species. Before going on a collecting trip, I check field guides to determine what I am likely to find and then check American Aquarium Fishes to determine whether I want to try to keep and breed the fish or just observe and release it. If I decide to keep and breed the fish, I use American Currents to learn more details. In addition, I think that American Aquarium Fishes still has one of the best collections of photos of native fish in print. Illustrations in field guides are superior for fish identification, but photos sometimes are better for determining how the fish will look when caught or kept in aquaria.

Phil Nixon

While I *shamefully* have not gotten around to getting the back issues of AC, I agree fully with this assessment of American Aquarium Fishes, as I use it in pretty much the same manner.

Thanks for this post, helped me to look for a good beginner book.
I also found: North American Native Fishes for the Home Aquarium, David M. Schleser, anyone knows this book?
http://www.planetcat...e Home Aquarium

And thinking of getting the CD´s.

Sven

I have the Schleser book. It was a nice book when I was first getting into natives. I don't really reference it much any more as it is pretty basic.

The NANFA CDs are worth every penny and then some. Nice and searchable and lots of good information about specific fish and specific situations.

I have the Schleser book and agree with Michael's assessment. It is very basic and meant to be that way. Dr. Schleser is a wealth of knowledge on NA fishes but wanted to make an intro book. I would suggest many of the fine Fishes of books before going with this one.

i know its not a fish specific book, but hutchinsons series on limnology and wetzels "limnology, lake and river ecosystems" will tell you just about everything you need to know when it comes to setting up the right water for your fish.

i have begun to be quite successful breeding some natives, using methods i came up with after reading those texts. i find hutchinsons works to be a bit dated, but it does have a lot of relevant information. i feel his enthusiastic writing style kinda makes up for its dated information. he often guesses and speculates about what may be true based on his observations and those of others. may or may not be accurate but entertaining to read nonetheless.
wetzels book is great, even though i disagree with his view that repeated research is a waste of time...

now if i can just keep my genius three year old daughter out of my fish room... the girl is too smart for her own good.
i may end up getting a combination lock soon....

Edited by Auban, 31 March 2013 - 09:56 PM.