Cichlid Books

[Big Dummy]

Greetings to all you usenet fish experts,

I used to have a pretty good, if slightly dated library of books on
Cichlids. Unfortunatley about 95% of my books were destroyed in Hurricane
Katrina. I have at last set aside a small sum of money to begin to start
repairing this deficiency, and I am now seeking recomendations for some of
the best of the current generation of books on my favorite critters
(Cichlids) and perhaps of other equally interesting species of fish such as
knifefishes, freshwater puffers, leaf fish, catfish, characins, etc. etc. My
main interest is definately cichlids though.

I wonder if anyone can reccomend books which are accurate, have a good
overview of species, representative photos (in the best of all worlds
including adult and juvenile, male and female though I know thats rare), and
have useful practical information including rate of growth, behavior (how
territorial they are etc), and the environment and conditions where they are
typically found in nature, as well as more conventional information such as
diet, temperature tolerance and optimal water conditions, how to sex them,
conditions needed for breeding, and etc.

Unfortunately I have a somewhat limited initial budget of about $100 - $150
so I will have to pick carefully. Ideally I'd like to find books on Central
American Cichlids, South American Cichlids, Malawi Cichlids (including at
least some individual treatment of Haps, Peacocks and Mbuna), and to
somewhat less of a degree, Tanganicans and other Africans, Asian cichlids
and other species such as mentioned above. I hope to get 3-5 books right
away, and then more later, so suggestions of both immediate and long term
(i.e. more expensive) goals would be welcome.

Any help at all would be appreciated.

DB

[Big Dummy]

Did I say something wrong? Too long-winded? Can't anybody reccomend some
good Cichlid books? Have any new ones been printed in the last 5 years?

BD



"Big Dummy" > wrote in message
. net...
> Greetings to all you usenet fish experts,
>
> I used to have a pretty good, if slightly dated library of books on
> Cichlids. Unfortunatley about 95% of my books were destroyed in Hurricane
> Katrina. I have at last set aside a small sum of money to begin to start
> repairing this deficiency, and I am now seeking recomendations for some of
> the best of the current generation of books on my favorite critters
> (Cichlids) and perhaps of other equally interesting species of fish such
as
> knifefishes, freshwater puffers, leaf fish, catfish, characins, etc. etc.
My
> main interest is definately cichlids though.
>
> I wonder if anyone can reccomend books which are accurate, have a good
> overview of species, representative photos (in the best of all worlds
> including adult and juvenile, male and female though I know thats rare),
and
> have useful practical information including rate of growth, behavior (how
> territorial they are etc), and the environment and conditions where they
are
> typically found in nature, as well as more conventional information such
as
> diet, temperature tolerance and optimal water conditions, how to sex them,
> conditions needed for breeding, and etc.
>
> Unfortunately I have a somewhat limited initial budget of about $100 -
$150
> so I will have to pick carefully. Ideally I'd like to find books on
Central
> American Cichlids, South American Cichlids, Malawi Cichlids (including at
> least some individual treatment of Haps, Peacocks and Mbuna), and to
> somewhat less of a degree, Tanganicans and other Africans, Asian cichlids
> and other species such as mentioned above. I hope to get 3-5 books right
> away, and then more later, so suggestions of both immediate and long term
> (i.e. more expensive) goals would be welcome.
>
> Any help at all would be appreciated.
>
> DB
>
>

[Gill Passman]

Big Dummy wrote:
> Did I say something wrong? Too long-winded? Can't anybody reccomend some
> good Cichlid books? Have any new ones been printed in the last 5 years?
>
> BD
>
>
>
> "Big Dummy" > wrote in message
> . net...
>
>>Greetings to all you usenet fish experts,
>>
>>I used to have a pretty good, if slightly dated library of books on
>>Cichlids. Unfortunatley about 95% of my books were destroyed in Hurricane
>>Katrina. I have at last set aside a small sum of money to begin to start
>>repairing this deficiency, and I am now seeking recomendations for some of
>>the best of the current generation of books on my favorite critters
>>(Cichlids) and perhaps of other equally interesting species of fish such
>
> as
>
>>knifefishes, freshwater puffers, leaf fish, catfish, characins, etc. etc.
>
> My
>
>>main interest is definately cichlids though.
>>
>>I wonder if anyone can reccomend books which are accurate, have a good
>>overview of species, representative photos (in the best of all worlds
>>including adult and juvenile, male and female though I know thats rare),
>
> and
>
>>have useful practical information including rate of growth, behavior (how
>>territorial they are etc), and the environment and conditions where they
>
> are
>
>>typically found in nature, as well as more conventional information such
>
> as
>
>>diet, temperature tolerance and optimal water conditions, how to sex them,
>>conditions needed for breeding, and etc.
>>
>>Unfortunately I have a somewhat limited initial budget of about $100 -
>
> $150
>
>>so I will have to pick carefully. Ideally I'd like to find books on
>
> Central
>
>>American Cichlids, South American Cichlids, Malawi Cichlids (including at
>>least some individual treatment of Haps, Peacocks and Mbuna), and to
>>somewhat less of a degree, Tanganicans and other Africans, Asian cichlids
>>and other species such as mentioned above. I hope to get 3-5 books right
>>away, and then more later, so suggestions of both immediate and long term
>>(i.e. more expensive) goals would be welcome.
>>
>>Any help at all would be appreciated.
>>
>>DB
>>
>>
>
>
>

Sorry, I just couldn't think of any...have you tried googling or your
local LFS - mine carry quite a wide range of books for superior to what
you can get in the "chain stores"

Maybe try posting to rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc - you might get some
more response...

Gill

[Udo Melis]

Big Dummy schrieb:
> Did I say something wrong? Too long-winded? Can't anybody reccomend some
> good Cichlid books? Have any new ones been printed in the last 5 years?
>
> BD
>
>

I think there are very few good books but "The cichlid fishes of Western
Africa" is a real gem. It is expensive but very good and thourough.

http://www.cichlidae.com/review.php?id=350

UM

[Amateur Cichlids]

"Big Dummy" > wrote in message
et...
> Did I say something wrong? Too long-winded? Can't anybody reccomend some
> good Cichlid books? Have any new ones been printed in the last 5 years?
>
> BD
>
>
Sorry dummy,
I don't frequent the NG's that often any more. Enjoying Cichlids 2nd
edition is a great reference and is very well priced. It's a great overall
reference for all cichlids. Of course any of the Back to Nature cichlid
specialty books by Ad Konings are excellent references. As suggested, Dr
Lamboj's book "The Cichlids of Western Africa" is an excellent book but is
quite expensive and very specialized. You'll find that most of the books now
adays are outdated however. They don't take into account a lot of the
reclassifications that are happening in the African rift lakes.
Tim
http://www.fishaholics.org/phpBB2/index.php