Innes's Exotic Aquarium Fishes: A Work of General ... (ISBN 0793800986)

Useful for decades!:
I first read the Innes Book, as we called Exotic Aqaurium Fishes by Dr. William T. Innes back then, in the late 70's, in its 19th edition. I was a teenage hobbyist back then, and the book was biblical to me and my peers. Recently, I discovered my old copy in a box of books we had stored in the garage, and was delighted to flip throught the pages and see that I could still learn new things from this grand classic by one of the pioneers of fresh-water ichtyology. Hopefully, I went to Amazon.com to see if I could locate a more recent edition (the 19th edition mostly sports black and white photographs and some of the scientific data on specific specimens is dated). I was delighted to discover the 21st edition! With valuable illustrations, taxonomic and biotope contributions, as well as descriptions, and transportation and husbandry advice, the Innes Book is a fine complement to Dr. Axelrod's Atlas of Freshwater Tropical Fishes, which is much more complete (7800 photos) but which only mentions common names in the index (60 pages of it!) and offers only the most succinct coded advice on fishkeeping, due to it's immense range. I recommend both books to any tropical fish hobbyist who wishes to maintain even a small comprehensive library on the subject.

A Must-Have Memorabilia for Hardcore Fish Heads:
William T. Innes was the Godfather of the aquarium hobby in the first half of the 20th century. And "Exotic Aquarium Fishes" was (and many feel still is) the greatest book every wrritten for and about the aquarium hobby. Innes was the publisher of the Aquarium Magazine and knew his stuff. But more importantly, he was a man of letters; The Innes Book (as it is called) reads like prose, not just boilerplate or dull descriptions so common in churn-em-out Axelrod/TFH books of the latter half of the century. Innes spent years writing this book and it shows. The color plates (painted photographs) are exquisite as well. But caution: MAKE SURE you purchase the edition published by the Innes Publishing Company - not Metaframe or TFH (which altered some of the text, changed the format, and produced it on lower quality black and white paper after the copyright ran out). A great gift for the hardcore fish nut in your life and a historic document!

A Wonderful Classic:
William Innes is widely considered the dean of the aquarium hobby in the US. My parents purchased this book for me along with my first 20 gallon tank when I was in high school, in the early 70s. It is truly a pleasure to read. He has a graceful, engaging writing style, and his book is full of practical information. While some parts are out of date (an antibiotic is referred to as a "wonder drug") don't let this dissuade you. This is an outstanding first book for a new hobbyist, and yet remains useful even for the more experienced hobbyist. It is one of my all-time favorite books, and I have a lot of books! I have the 19th edition revised, which has a YELLOW and White cover, and says 19th edition revised in a red banner near the top. After this edition, the rights were acquired by TFH, to my great regret. They "revised" it by putting in a lot of crude product placements for their products. It really detracts from the charm of the original. Try to get the 19th edition revised, with the yellow and white cover.

For several generations this was the Bible of Tropical Fish:
Four and a half stars. My does this book bring back memories. I acquired my first copy back for my birthday in 1968 and spent many a night pouring over it as though it was sacred scripture. It still makes for valuable reading but fortunately the hobby has evolved to the point where fish survival rates are much higher especially for the beginner due to more modern techniques than those elucidated in this book. In that way its advice about setting up an aquarium is quite outdated. However most of the fish described and their morphology and behavior are still the same and the information offered still of great use to the aquarist. Descriptions of each species are literate and used to send off my mind to dream in the same way as a child's mind would dream when viewing a window full of toys. I believe this book will remain a classic for years to come.

best of classics:
as old as this book is it still provides relevant information. the only thing negative i can think of is its range of species which could be wider in my opinion. a great book at (price) or less.