[.ca] Aquariums For Dummies (ISBN 0764551566)

Don't be misled by this book!:
Yes, this is a "Dummies" book, and yes I like the "Dummies" series, because they tend to take the mystery out of a complex subject and make it easier to understand. The problem with this book, as you can tell from the true fishkeepers who have bought it and made reviews, is that much of the information is wrong. "The discus is an easy-to-keep brackish water fish". HAH! It's not brackish water, and it's not recommended for beginners. At least they got the picture right. The fish pictured is a discus. This is only one of several glaring fishkeeping errors, not to mention grammatical errors. The "Dummies" Editing staff should be ashamed, as they are misleading people who trust the "Dummies" name to help them with their new hobby. The information "sounds good" and a lot of people really like this book, because it's got some nice humor, easy-to-understand analogies, all the key elements of a good "Dummies" book. The problem is, the unsuspecting beginner has no idea which of the information is accurate, and which isn't. If you're a beginner, buy the "Complete Idiot's Guide" by Mike Wickham. If you are an experienced fishkeeper and already know what you're doing and just love to collect "Dummies" books, by all means, get this one, pay the publisher to hire better editors, and get a red ink pen and test your knowledge. I'd give this book 3 stars overall as a book goes. It's amusing, it has good information (if you can tell which information is good), and it's fun. The reason for its 1-star rating is because it's marketed for beginners and beginners can't tell which paragraph they happen to be reading is right, and which one is completely wrong. If a second edition comes out, buy it. I have to assume that the authors know by now what mistakes they've made and would be all to happy to correct them if given a chance.

Fast track to killing fish and getting burned out:
Too many inaccuracies to mention them all, but I will cite a few that stood out to me and how a beginning aquarist can find themselves burned out from this hobby after spending lots of money on equipment and fish only to see them die because they followed advice/assumptions made by this book. The book tries to cover freshwater, brackish and marine (saltwater) aquariums simultaneously, but seems to be more focused on freshwater than anything else. I am a saltwater aquarist and I know very little about brackish or freshwater fishkeeping, but based on the misinformation on saltwater aquariums and fish, I would never follow any advice from this book - while there are many true/factual statements, I am not willing to roll the dice to see which ones are correct or incorrect. There is a color photo of a yellow-bellied damselfish in the book w/ the caption "Fiji Blue Devil." Blue Devils, aka "Blue Damsels" are intense blue all over and do not have yellow scales. The text concerning blue devils say that they are just called 'devils' but don't act that way. That is simply untrue. I've had 3 blue devils and and each one behaved wonderfully until they went through their growth spurt. They became very aggressive and bit fins and scales off of other fish. Full adults don't get any bigger than an adult's thumb, but they can harass and irreperably damage other fish, stressing them out and shortening their lives. Blue devils are beautiful fish and very inexpensive - but not worth it if they are destroying your other fish. There is a saying in the aquarium trade - "if damsels were as big as sharks, sharks would hide behind rocks." Not all damsels are that aggressive. Some like the yellow tailed damsel can get along very peacably with other inhabitants. This misinformation in just a couple of paragraphs can cost you a lot of heartache and money. There is also a mention of a Green Mandarin Goby and a photo of one... just stating that it's a beautiful fish. Mandarins (green or spotted variety) should NEVER be bought by beginners. In my opinion, they are one of the most beautiful fish in the trade, but 99% of the time, they die of starvation within 7 days of purchase. They are slow fish and they do not eat prepared foods. They eat bristle worms and other very tiny lifeforms that live in the substrate (they are bottom feeders). These fish are not only beautful, but expensive. I made these mistakes the hard way, following the advice of salespeople in aquarium stores who care more about getting your money than the welfare of your pets. A book that is supposed to be for beginners should not repeat the same misinformation. One of the foods they cite as good for marine fish is brine shrimp. This is only partially true. Brine shrimp are appetizing to fish, but have almost no nutrional value by themselves. Hobbyists should only get spirulina-enriched brine shrimp instead of brine shrip alone - and this is not mentioned. The information on live food is too brief and misleading. Live feeder guppies (freshwater) should NEVER be fed to marine fish... how would marine fish ever encounter fresh waterfish in the wild?! Freshwater fish are too fatty and too much feeding of freshwater fish to marine animals will lead to fatty liver disease which results in death. This is not mentioned. Also not mentioned is that feeding live food will increase the hunting instincts of your fish and make them more aggressive towards each other. Keeping your fish on prepared/frozen foods in lieu of live is the way to go. The authors also say that you can periodically give your fish strips of cooked lean meat and potatoes. What!?!?! Find me a fish that can hunt down a cow and dig up a potato and cook them both - and I'll change my level of disgust with this information. Just because a particular species of fish might be an omnivore does not mean that ANY type of meat will suffice. This also gives the impression that cooked shrimp could be given. No one should be cooking for their fish. Fish eat aquatic plants and/or animals and fish do not cook. They also do not eat land mammals or spuds. Cooked foods such as these will also greatly foul the water. The chapter on water sources doesn't even mention Reverse Osmosis or Deionization. Their advice is to get the "inexpensive" bottled water. Even cheap bottled water can get pricey when you're talking about filling up a 55 gal tank, not to mention water changes each month. A one time cost of getting an RO or RO/DI filter can make water cost you about 6 cents a gallon instead of paying upwards of a dollar a gallon. More than half of new aquarists get out of the hobby within the first year because they blow too much money on garbage because they followed really bad advice and suffered through dying fish, algae blooms and bad pumps & filters. There are some good aquarium books out there, but this is surely not one of them.

Fun to read, good for beginners.:
I bought this book as a freshwater aquarist returning to the hobby after a 12-year hiatus. For beginners, it's a great book - the writing is funny, the information is useful, and it covers a good range of topics. Topics include: step-by-step instructions for setting up an aquarium, basic fish anatomy, water chemistry information, information on the nitrogen cycle (i.e., how a tank's ecosystem gets started), and a basic description of most fish diseases & parasites, along with frequently-used cures. It also includes a list of fish that *aren't* for beginners, which is helpful, as many stores that stock fish don't have knowledgeable staff on-hand when you go to buy your fish. The writing also makes light of some of the more frustrating problems aquarists encounter (i.e., fish jumping out of the tank, etc.), which is bound to make any beginner feel less incompetent when these things almost inevitably happen. As with most Dummies books, you will need to add other books to your library, but this is a good one to start with.

Dummed Down Dummies:
It's a really good book - filled with all the information you need to know to starting up your aqaurium. I found it really dumed-down though (I suppose good if you know nothing about fish) so I found it really difficult to sit to down & read the whole thing. Alot more technical information then on fish themselves - best place to find good advice on filters. Overall I'm glad I bought it - but it's not the staple of my fish-book collection.

Alright, just listen to this- I'll tell you what.:
OK. Let me start off by saying that this is the first fish book I ever read. Not at this time however- so I can look at it from a beginner's and an advanced hobbyist's point of veiw. This book is a great deal of fun to read- it is very easy to navigate and has a nice flavour to the writing- and so by now I must have read it a dozen times. In that reading, I did find numerous errors. The fine details, most of which are not exceedingly informative anyway, should be largely ignored as they are often riddled with errors. Over all, this book is a very palatable introduction- although it should be bought with a more reliable book for cross- checking.