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Rating: 
Summary: An essential field guide...
Review: and book for the determined aquarist. However, this book is geared more toward aquarium species than ones found in the ocean or freshwater lakes. For instance, the Asian pufferfish is a species that has never been mentioned in any field guide, except this one. Without a doubt, it is an aquarium hybrid. There are not very many species of betas, fightingfish, or goldfish covered here. A person looking for heavy coverage of that will be slightly disappointed.
The other fishes covered, such as puffers, triggerfish, or cowfish, have more species listed, and more details given. People interested in pufferfish (such as me), will find this guide useful. The only downside that takes away one star is that some species are hybrids, including betas and goldfish. Most triggerfish and cowfish are authentic species.
If you are looking for a field guide to take along with you on a scuba diving trip to the Caribbean, forget it. This is not the one. However, if you are searching for fish to put in your aquarium, this book is definetely for you..
Rating: 
Summary: Great reference guide for those who keep pet shops to kids!
Review: Awesome reference guide (I have a 1977 edition). Over 300 full-color photos of freshwater & marine fishes, plants, reptiles and invertibrates. Includes common names, scientific names, families, distribution in the wild (where do these things live), a good verbal description, as well as a good photo, pH, temperature, water hardness, light and other pertinent info about where it lives, and what it needs in an aquarium, feeding info (a bit sketchy there, unless you are already knowledgable), as well as behavioral and compatability information (a MUST for keeping social fishes with others, and keeping those that don't get along apart from each other!) Basic aquarium knowledge is not required to enjoy the book, but to use the technical stuff for fish keeping, one must have some other background info (another book on the basics, or several trips and brain picking of a reputable pet shop employee is helpful!) Basic chemistry knowledge (especially dilutions [YES! There really is a use for all that math you took through jr. college!] for the disease treatment section is a must of using this to treat diseases) Fish diseases section is small, but to the point, and covers most common diseases one will see in aquarium fishes, especially fresh water. If you want to keep a salt water aquarium, this is a good reference, but you'll also need a great salt water aqaurium book! My edition also does not cover Chloramines, which were added to our tap water after the book was published - use GOOD, distilled bottled water whenever possible, or perhaps a reverse osmosis system w/ filteration, if your house is so equipped. For salt water, I've found it best to change out water directly from the ocean (away from the coastline and rivers), but then too you risk getting diseases in your aquarium that way... I did keep a star fish (sea star)and a Spanish Shawl nudibrach in a goldfish bowl this way for about 3 years, then when we moved sent them back to the ocean... They were awesome, but required we change the water abuot every 2-3 days. This is an awesome book, great pictures, but I'd suggest also getting another to supplement this one... My supplement is about 30+ years old, and is no longer in print, and I've not seen one in years.
Rating:
Summary: Great reference guide for those who keep pet shops to kids!
Review: Awesome reference guide (I have a 1977 edition). Over 300 full-color photos of freshwater & marine fishes, plants, reptiles and invertibrates. Includes common names, scientific names, families, distribution in the wild (where do these things live), a good verbal description, as well as a good photo, pH, temperature, water hardness, light and other pertinent info about where it lives, and what it needs in an aquarium, feeding info (a bit sketchy there, unless you are already knowledgable), as well as behavioral and compatability information (a MUST for keeping social fishes with others, and keeping those that don't get along apart from each other!) Basic aquarium knowledge is not required to enjoy the book, but to use the technical stuff for fish keeping, one must have some other background info (another book on the basics, or several trips and brain picking of a reputable pet shop employee is helpful!) Basic chemistry knowledge (especially dilutions [YES! There really is a use for all that math you took through jr. college!] for the disease treatment section is a must of using this to treat diseases) Fish diseases section is small, but to the point, and covers most common diseases one will see in aquarium fishes, especially fresh water. If you want to keep a salt water aquarium, this is a good reference, but you'll also need a great salt water aqaurium book! My edition also does not cover Chloramines, which were added to our tap water after the book was published - use GOOD, distilled bottled water whenever possible, or perhaps a reverse osmosis system w/ filteration, if your house is so equipped. For salt water, I've found it best to change out water directly from the ocean (away from the coastline and rivers), but then too you risk getting diseases in your aquarium that way... I did keep a star fish (sea star)and a Spanish Shawl nudibrach in a goldfish bowl this way for about 3 years, then when we moved sent them back to the ocean... They were awesome, but required we change the water abuot every 2-3 days. This is an awesome book, great pictures, but I'd suggest also getting another to supplement this one... My supplement is about 30+ years old, and is no longer in print, and I've not seen one in years.
Rating: 
Summary: A good review of fish but a bad guide for setting aquarium
Review: I bought this book as a fish familiarization reference after setting up my aquarium with another book and am glad I did. To say this is a bad intro book on aquariums is an understatement. Anyone considering fish as a hobby would immediatly change their mind upon reading the introduction to this book (which covers setting up an aquarium). For one thing it is way too scientific with diagrams of how pumps work and loads of discussion on things you don't need to know in detail and glaring lack of easy to understand explanations on what you do need to know. I read a 40 page Wal-Mart book on setting up an aquarium that was 100 times better than this guide in that respect. So, if you're setting up a new aquarium and want to know (in English) how to set up an aquarium, or want to know information on aquarium products, chemicals, techniques, etc. don't use this book to do it. Any of a dozen short, "so you want to buy a fish" guides will do. You don't need to 4 pages of when/how/why to quarentine fish in order to set up your first aquarium. And even if you did, this book doesn't describe the "how-to's" well enough anyway. This book IS a pretty good guide to freshwater and saltwater fishes, plants, reptiles, and invertibrates (like crabs, starfish, etc.) It covers about 300 specimens in total, 88 of which are freshwater fish and about 100 salt water fish. The rest fall into the other categories. It's not comprehensive by any means. There's ONE entry for Goldfish, for instance, even though there are dozens of readily available variations of goldfish. The one entry will give you generally what you need for the entire family, but it won't show you pictures of the many flavors available. Many generally available fish are also not in the book at all - but most are. This book does, however, cover a good range of common freshwater and saltwater aquarium fish. And each entry discusses what you need to know about that fish such as required temperature, food, characteristics, behavior and what other fish (or fish types) it gets along with. All this information is necessary to have a happy community (or species) aquarium. This book does Not adequately cover breeding fish and other expert topics. Its claim as "A guide for beginners and experts alike" is a bit of an overstatement in that regard. (At least that's my opinion.) My conclusion is that I like it for what I got it for - pictures of possible additions to my aquarium with a general description of needs, behavior, etc of each fish. I didn't buy it as a comprehensive guide or a guide to setting up my aquarium. In my opinion, if you want that information go elsewhere. There may even be better pictoral fish guides, but I liked the compact size of the book and the easy to swallow ($$) price tag. Happy Fish Keeping
Rating:
Summary: A good review of fish but a bad guide for setting aquarium
Review: I bought this book as a fish familiarization reference after setting up my aquarium with another book and am glad I did. To say this is a bad intro book on aquariums is an understatement. Anyone considering fish as a hobby would immediatly change their mind upon reading the introduction to this book (which covers setting up an aquarium). For one thing it is way too scientific with diagrams of how pumps work and loads of discussion on things you don't need to know in detail and glaring lack of easy to understand explanations on what you do need to know. I read a 40 page Wal-Mart book on setting up an aquarium that was 100 times better than this guide in that respect. So, if you're setting up a new aquarium and want to know (in English) how to set up an aquarium, or want to know information on aquarium products, chemicals, techniques, etc. don't use this book to do it. Any of a dozen short, "so you want to buy a fish" guides will do. You don't need to 4 pages of when/how/why to quarentine fish in order to set up your first aquarium. And even if you did, this book doesn't describe the "how-to's" well enough anyway. This book IS a pretty good guide to freshwater and saltwater fishes, plants, reptiles, and invertibrates (like crabs, starfish, etc.) It covers about 300 specimens in total, 88 of which are freshwater fish and about 100 salt water fish. The rest fall into the other categories. It's not comprehensive by any means. There's ONE entry for Goldfish, for instance, even though there are dozens of readily available variations of goldfish. The one entry will give you generally what you need for the entire family, but it won't show you pictures of the many flavors available. Many generally available fish are also not in the book at all - but most are. This book does, however, cover a good range of common freshwater and saltwater aquarium fish. And each entry discusses what you need to know about that fish such as required temperature, food, characteristics, behavior and what other fish (or fish types) it gets along with. All this information is necessary to have a happy community (or species) aquarium. This book does Not adequately cover breeding fish and other expert topics. Its claim as "A guide for beginners and experts alike" is a bit of an overstatement in that regard. (At least that's my opinion.) My conclusion is that I like it for what I got it for - pictures of possible additions to my aquarium with a general description of needs, behavior, etc of each fish. I didn't buy it as a comprehensive guide or a guide to setting up my aquarium. In my opinion, if you want that information go elsewhere. There may even be better pictoral fish guides, but I liked the compact size of the book and the easy to swallow ($$) price tag. Happy Fish Keeping
Rating:
Summary: Easy To Use!!!
Review: YES, as title says - Simon and Schuster's Nature Guide Series - and I have several, are extremely easy to use. They do not contain alot of details about subjects - but enough to identify different aquarium fishes. And the pictures are quite good.
I have enjoyed this book and utilized it often to identify many fish.
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