[.ca] Dr. Axelrod's Atlas of Fresh-Water Aquarium Fishes (ISBN 0793800331)

Excellent Pictorial Reference:
I think the strength of this book is its encyclopaedic approach to fish species: a picture of each fish together with basic (but essential) information. It's probably more for the serious hobbyist/scientist who already has aquaria and is interested in fish indentification (rather than setting up aquaria & maintenance). Well worth the price - especially here in Amazon.com. For me (a hobbyist), it's excellent reference especially when I buy new fish because it tells me about the fish's basic facts such as aggressiveness, water conditions etc. With this mind, it's probably unfair when other readers say there are "no words in the book" etc. because that's probably the "database" intention anyway.

Dr. Axelrod's Atlas of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes:
I was disappointed in this book since I already had the Mini Atlas and expected the full sized atlas to have the same features (such as text, and helpful information) as the Mini Atlas, just more of them. Instead it is nothing but photos from cover to cover. This book just sits on the bookshelf untouched since the Mini Atlas more than covers most of the fish available out there - for a much more reasonable cost. There are also some inaccuracies in the fish species. You could buy a few better books for the cost of just this one, or just spend one-fourth of the price and buy the Mini Atlas.

high priced but has its value:
anyone looking for information such as location and habitat of a fish species will not want this book. it is just a book of pictures that will allow you to find and indentify a species you may have trouble locating elsewhere. this book is most handy for me after i have visited the pet shop and saw something that i have never seen before and don't trust the labeling in the store. my atlas is then my reference. for further information i will look it up on the web. to lookup information i need to know what i'm looking for and this is where this book becomes very important. no other single book that i know of covers as many species. the latest edition may have more photos than earlier editions but it may have the same number of species as earlier editions. however newer editions will have the latest scientific names (you can still use older names most of the times when searching as it takes some time for everyone to get used to the change). there are no common names used in this book (sometimes in the index next to the scietific) and there is no introduction to water chemistry, tank setup and the like that you may see in other books. it's greatest use is as a pictorial refernce with basic information (pH, dh, size, recommended tank size, agressivesness and sociabilty) on all the fish included. ...however i recommend the earlier editions at a much reduced price giving the same information (i believe the 6th edition and up are all pretty much the same- i could be wrong). i have the 7th edition ...and i'm more than happy. you may want to purchase the mini-atlas that has a lttle of everything before looking into the larger volume to satisfy your needs. i used this book as a quick refernce more than any other i have.

Nice pictures, that's about all:
Axelrod's atlas of Freshwater fishes may be one of the most over rated aquarium books ever. The only redeeming quality is as a photo catalogue for identifications. Textually, the information is scant at best--pictograms can only confer so much information. For someone looking for a complete guide to maintaining freshwater aquaria, this book would be a tragic over payment. On the other hand, if you want it as a picture reference, for determining species, etc., it would be suitable. For detailed species info, however, there are better books out there.

Nice pictures, that's about all:
Axelrod's atlas of Freshwater fishes may be one of the most over rated aquarium books ever, by one of the most over rated authors. The only redeeming quality is as a photo catalogue for identifications. Textually, the information is scant at best--pictograms can only confer so much information. For someone looking for a complete guide to maintaining freshwater aquaria, this book would be a tragic over payment. On the other hand, if you want it as a picture reference, for determining species, etc., it would be suitable. For detailed species info, however, there are better books out there.