Few questions about english/american aquarium magazines

Mika · Post by **Mika** » 09 Mar 2003, 11:43

1. Since Lee Finley stopped keeping his monthly "catfish corner" in TFH few years back it has lost its source for information to me.It is nowadays just a catalog of advertisements. Is there some good American aquarium magazines with lots of good articles about catfishes? I give great meaning to good scientific information not just some advices for starting hobbyist.Whatever happened to Lee Finley is he still writing? I enjoyed very much his articles.

2. there are at least two Brittish magazines(Today`s fishkeeper and Practical fishkeeping) are these any good for catfish fanatic? Which one is better?Why? It is not cheap to order them and i don`t wanna spend some good money for nothing.

Post by **Silurus** » 09 Mar 2003, 11:53

Since Lee Finley stopped keeping his monthly "catfish corner" in TFH few years back it has lost its source for information to me.It is nowadays just a catalog of advertisements. Is there some good American aquarium magazines with lots of good articles about catfishes?

I don't think there's one at the moment. Not unless it's some obscure aquarium club journal (the NACS is bust, so I know there isn't one specifically for catfishes).

Whatever happened to Lee Finley is he still writing? I enjoyed very much his articles.

Lee is retired. Still get the occasional phone call from him. He's working on another update of the Burgess catfish atlas, though.

Mika · Post by **Mika** » 09 Mar 2003, 12:57

He's working on another update ofthe Burgess catfish atlas, though.

Is there going to be new edition in near future?

Post by **Silurus** » 09 Mar 2003, 13:06

No, it's just going to be an update like the one they (he & Burgess) did in 1996. Just an annotated list of names, mostly.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 12 Mar 2003, 01:51

I've tried to be fair to practical fishkeeping, but I just can't stomach it. I thought the first issue I bought could be a fluke, tried one about 6 months later, still like 90?% rubbish.

I really like TFH, ;) you oughta pic up some more recent ones, lots of good info, although the "L is for Lorricariid" article reminded me that N is for nonsense, and I've stopped even bothering to read Wattley's column anymore, he seems to either not care or to have forgotten that he's suggested rummy-nosed tetras for discus tankmates a dozen times in what seems half as many issues. But, there are always good articles by Lucanus from BelowWater, Shane, or many other interesting authors.

Post by **Silurus** » 12 Mar 2003, 02:30

In my opinion, the quality of TFH has gone down the drain over the years. I tried submitting an article to them once, but the bleepin' idiots lost it, slides and all. That's the last time I send them anything.
My outlet of choice is now PC and Cat Chat (the CSG newsletter)...smaller readership, but light years ahead in quality control.

Chrysichthys · Post by **Chrysichthys** » 02 Apr 2003, 11:42

Practical Fishkeeping is much the better of the two. Check the grammar and spelling in Today's Fishkeeper and imagine what factual errors it might contain. One example: claiming that Chaca are a banjo catfish. Wrong family, wrong continent.

Post by **Dinyar** » 02 Apr 2003, 17:18

Jools wrote:
That said, if you pay for Erwins email delivered new imports offering then you may feel you are getting the same info second hand.

Haven't read "Cat Chat" (Jools, how much is the membership/subscription?), but IME, Erwin's Import News is by far and away the best value for the money. Not just catfish, but lots of catfish too. No ads and no BS, knowledgeable discussion and great pics.

Not familiar with the UK fish mags, but the US ones -- despite the occasional article by knowledgeable people like Shane -- are pure garbage, not worth the paper they're printed on. I occasionally browse through them at book stores. 5 minutes -- most of that spent turning the pages -- is all it takes to read an issue thoroughly.

Dinyar

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 13 Apr 2003, 18:17

Dinyar wrote:Haven't read "Cat Chat" (Jools, how much is the membership/subscription?)

Membership for you guys would be about $30 initially and then around $20 annually. Less if you pay by paypal rather than cheque.

Jools

oneoddfish · Post by **oneoddfish** » 14 Apr 2003, 03:01

could you post or pm me info on how to subscribe to cat chat....thank you...

Chrysichthys · Post by **Chrysichthys** » 16 Apr 2003, 15:38

Mika wrote:there are at least two Brittish magazines(Today`s fishkeeper and Practical fishkeeping) are these any good for catfish fanatic? Which one is better?

PFK has a website, http://www.practicalfishkeeping.com

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 26 Apr 2003, 16:01

oneoddfish wrote:could you post or pm me info on how to subscribe to cat chat....thank you...

http://www.planetcatfish.com/csguk/membership.htm

Jools

Pooks73 · Post by **Pooks73** » 02 May 2003, 18:05

could someone post a link to erwin's import news? thanks

Post by **Silurus** » 02 May 2003, 18:09

could someone post a link to erwin's import news?

http://home.t-online.de/home/schraml.e/indexe.htm

Pooks73 · Post by **Pooks73** » 02 May 2003, 20:41

thank you

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 05 May 2003, 14:24

Chrysichthys wrote:Practical Fishkeeping is much the better of the two. Check the grammar and spelling in Today's Fishkeeper and imagine what factual errors it might contain. One example: claiming that Chaca are a banjo catfish. Wrong family, wrong continent.

Which edition was this? Do you have it to hand? I like to check such things so they don't happen again. As a Today's Fishkeeper contributor, obviously I'm going to have a bias, but the mag does at least try to get original articles rather than dragging out the same pieces every couple of years.
PFK does tend to recycle some real rubbish. They've even recently started to print articles full of outdated information by someone they said they'd never deal with again!
Like all magazines, PFK have some good and some not-so-good material, I do like reading anything by Chris Ralph, John Rundle or Richard Hardwick, but some of the stuff done by the dealers they have cosy relationships with isn't worth the paper it's written on IMO.
So my vote goes jointly to Today's Fishkeeper, and Catchat.
The real bad one out of the UK mags is 'Tropical Fish', it's like a game each month spotting the wrongly captioned pictures and bad information.

Chrysichthys · Post by **Chrysichthys** » 13 May 2003, 19:06

I'm assuming that Today's Fishkeeper is what used to be Aquarium and Pondkeeper. If not, I apologise.

PFK's worst habit is disguising advertisements as articles.

Mika · Post by **Mika** » 31 Mar 2005, 12:31

Has there been any developement in late year? IÂ´m only buying Today`s fishkeeper because of Erwin Scramls catfish articles.Has PKF any catfish articles regulary?

Few questions about english/american aquarium magazines

Few questions about english/american aquarium magazines

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