Good Books

Post by **Shane** » 23 Jun 2005, 13:45

Not necessarily your favorite catfish specific books, but what other books have you come across that were helpful, useful or just good reads?
I'll start by strongly recommending "Adventures with Discus" by Hans Mayland (TFH 1994). Despite the title, this is not really a Discus book. It is really Mayland's adventures and experiences throughout South America while collecting Discus and other fishes. If you like travel books and reading about collecting this is a great book. Something you will sit down and read like a novel. Another thing I love about the book was that Mayland took water samples in most of the places he collected and had analysis done by labs so there is lots of very good habitat/water chemistry information.
The book has a nice introduction on the early explorers as well as a introduction to climate, soils, and other good general info. There are specific chapters on the Llanos, Tefe, Rio Purus, Mato Grosso and many, many others mixed in with chapters about curare (poisons), piranhas, river dolphins and other things of interest. Pick up a copy.
-Shane

ClayT101 · Post by **ClayT101** » 24 Jun 2005, 14:42

Thanks for the tip. Because of your review, I just went and picked up a copy online. I am looking forward to getting it.

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 24 Jun 2005, 15:43

my 2 favourite non-catfishbooks are

"C.ichlids and all the other fishes of Lake Tanganyika" by the late Pierre Brichard

and

"Tanganyikan c.ichlids in their natural habitat" by Ad Konings.

The first book is somewthing like "The Old Testament" for any Tanganyika enthousiast, the second one is rapidly becoming the New Testament

Although both books have their fauls (scientific names change faster than ink dries on paper), they greatly differ from regular fishbooks because of the detailed descriptions of fish behaving in their habitat, and also descriptions of that habitat!
If you read carefully there's a treasure of information to be had, and it gives great inspiration for tankdecorations, species-combinations, what to feed and so on.

the first book is the ONLY "c.ichlid"-book that also includes a load of other fish; catfish, puffers, characins etc etc. Some of these fish have never showed up in any other book; his decription for example of Chrysichthys (Gephyroglanis) sianenna put me on another hunt for a very hard-to-get fish.....

the second one has almost all pictures made under water by Ad, using SCUBA gear. the looks of the habitats are stunning, and his book gives a far better impression than any other book on the subject about how and where these fish actually live.

retro_gk · Post by **retro_gk** » 24 Jun 2005, 18:35

Just finished reading Barlow's "Cichlid fishes - Nature's grand experiment in evolution" *****Highly recommended*****

The book is an interesting mix of ethology and evolution.
Starting on "Darwin's Dreampond" next - deals with Lake Victoria.

Sid- excellent recommendations!! While I don't own either one, I have read and thoroughly enjoyed both. (Yaay for libraries).

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 24 Jun 2005, 19:03

Two excellent books for my money are "the new illustrated guide to fish disease" by Gerald Bassleer (only book of its kind with a dedidcated catfish section) and also the Schleser North American Native Fishes for the home aquarium book.

I like the first one as it's written just at the right level and has loads of pictures as well. 1000 words and all that.

There are many better books on North American fishes but this ones manages to capture their charm from the point of view of their captive study.

My all time favourite fish book is Mayland's origianl Home Aquarium book but this is more becuase of the fact I grew up wih it as my hobby bible (the picture in it of S. angelicus sitting next to a S. flavitaeniatus might never be bettered in my eyes) before I graduated up to Baensch.

Jools

Post by **Dinyar** » 24 Jun 2005, 19:17

retro_gk wrote:Just finished reading Barlow's "c*****d fishes - Nature's grand experiment in evolution" *****Highly recommended*****

The book is an interesting mix of ethology and evolution.
Starting on "Darwin's Dreampond" next - deals with Lake Victoria.

Sid- excellent recommendations!! While I don't own either one, I have read and thoroughly enjoyed both. (Yaay for libraries).

I've read both Barlow and Goldschmidt. The former I would grade as an "A", the latter as a "C+".

I've also read Sid's "New Testament". It's in a quite different category from Barlow and Goldschmidt, more descriptive than analytical. I thought it was good but not great. A solid "B".

Dinyar

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 24 Jun 2005, 21:21

I would really like to recommend the Mergus series. Very informative, despite some mistakes. Six parts so far on aquarium fishes in general.
About Goldschmidt: informative and written with humour. Perhaps some of that wit got lost in the translation into English (it's originally in Dutch).

Deb · Post by **Deb** » 25 Jun 2005, 01:21

Steven Simpson Books just sent me an email about a new item entitled "Identifying Corydoradine Catfish", by a fellow named Ian Fuller.
Anyone know anything about it?

Dave Rinaldo · Post by **Dave Rinaldo** » 25 Jun 2005, 01:34

Ian should be getting stock of the BOOK today.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 25 Jun 2005, 12:58

Hi!

My favourite non catfish book:"The Endemic Cichlids of Madagascar" written by Patrick de Rham and the late jean-Claude Nourrissat.

Cheers
Yann

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 25 Jun 2005, 15:05

I've started to read this book:
Fish Behavior: In the Aquarium And In The Wild by Stephan Reebs

I am very interested in how fish behave. So far, I've read about alarm substance cells and chemoreception. I believe this book is geared towards hobbyists who want to know why fish in an enclosed environment behave as they do. Catfish are mentioned a little in the index. C******s and Minnows seem to be the primary focus. There are a lot of endnotes in this book. It makes me want to check them out and learn more.

Post by **Shane** » 25 Jun 2005, 16:00

Good summer reads on Amazonas...

William L. Herndon, "Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon 1851-1852." Herndon, a US Naval Officer, was appointed to lead the first US expedition into the mysterious Valley of the Amazon. A year later he had crossed 1,000 miles by foot, mule, and canoe from coast to coast. A great read if you have interest in what the "unspoiled" Amazon was like. A young man named Samuel Clemens read this book, decided his future was in the Amazon, and took a steamer down the Mississippi to find transport to the Amazon. He found no way to get to the Amazon from the States, so he changed his name to Mark Twain and wrote about the Mississippi instead.

Anthony Smith, "Explorers of the Amazon." A nice introduction to the great explorers that covers Cabral, de Orellana, de Aguirre, de la Condamine, von Humboldt, and Arana amongst others. If you have never read the story of de Aguirre, it is one of the sadest and most disturbing you will ever read. The story of the Godins is one of the greatest love storys of all time. Her husband at the mouth of the Amazon and Mrs Godin at the headwaters, she decided to sail the Amazon to reunite with her husband. All of her party (including her brothers) died around her. Naked and without food she took her dead brother's boots and walked out of the Amazon alone.

Joe Kane, "Running the Amazon." The first attempt to cross all 4,200 miles of the Amazon from its very source to end in kayaks. The real story here is the expedition's falling apart under a clash of egos, ideas, and leadership. A great study of people under hard circumstances falling apart.

Colin Angus, "Amazon Extreme." Three young guys basically wake up one morning and decide to raft the Aamazon. With no money and really no experience in the Amazon they barely avoid death everyday as they realize they are in way over their heads.
-Shane

Post by **Silurus** » 25 Jun 2005, 17:11

Going over to the other side of the world, I thoroughly enjoyed Milton Osborne's "River Road to China: The Search for the Source of the Mekong 1866-73", which chronicles the exploits of the Mekong Exploration Commission headed by Doudart de LagrÃ©e to explore and map the Mekong River.

I am thinking of picking up a second book on this subject: "Mad About the Mekong: Exploration and Empire in South-East Asia" by John Keay, which was recently published. I have one of Keay's earlier books ("The Honourable Company", which chronicles the rise and fall of the British East India Company), which is still sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. I will get the Keay Mekong book after I read the first one (and when I can pick up a used copy).

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 26 Jun 2005, 15:49

I was reading the latest Tropical Fish Hobbyist last night. There was a well-written article by someone named Mr. Lee Finley in it. Some fellow named Ian Fuller was named in his article. This guy is everywhere! I can't wait to purchase and read his new book.

Jorge · Post by **Jorge** » 26 Jun 2005, 18:08

I would also recommend strongly Mayland's book "Adventures with Discus". Probably my favourite book about fish: nice, even for those of you that are not interested in discus.

Sandtiger · Post by **Sandtiger** » 27 Jun 2005, 03:15

bronzefry wrote:I've started to read this book:
Fish Behavior: In the Aquarium And In The Wild by Stephan Reebs

I am very interested in how fish behave. So far, I've read about alarm substance cells and chemoreception. I believe this book is geared towards hobbyists who want to know why fish in an enclosed environment behave as they do. Catfish are mentioned a little in the index. C******s and Minnows seem to be the primary focus. There are a lot of endnotes in this book. It makes me want to check them out and learn more.

I was actually gonna recommend this book as well as Barlows, loved them both.

Other books I recommend are...

Manual of Fish Health by Dr. Chris Andrews, Adrian Exell and Dr. Neville Carrington. Load of pictures and info on a lot of different fish problems.

The Inland Fishes of New York State by C. Lavett Smith. Not a fish keeping book but a great source of info on native species and their indentification. This book would have to be my bible.

Mika · Post by **Mika** » 27 Jun 2005, 07:06

IÂ´ve enjoyed from this book.
Aquarium Sharks And Rays by Scott W. Michael

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