Best 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

[NetMax]

"Big Dummy" > wrote in message
. com...
> Greetings to all you usenet fish experts,

Welcome DB.

> 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.

Tim (posts as Amateur Cichlid and frequents/operates
http://www.fishaholics.org ) had listed some very good books on
Tang/Malawi a few years ago. He sometimes drops into rafc, but it's been
quiet over there lately (as opposed to the the cat & fish & troll party
we've been having here lately :o). Baensch is also a very good source
for general info, regularly updated, but somewhat overpriced. Can
sometimes be picked up on ebay as new revisions come out.

> 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.

I have 7 or 8 books which I have worn the covers off of, but I don't feel
any need to get more current books. The web has a variety of very
credible and up to date sites (and if you need some links, I can dig a
*few* out for you (as in more than you could read ;~). Also, books tend
to be a snapshot and constantly being outdated in terms of names,
groupings and new discoveries. The Malawian & Tanganyikans are obvious
examples, but the explosion in plecos findings are best tracked in
planetcatfish.com and the upheaval in Geophagus really needs a scorecard
to keep track of. I found (or was referred) a site of a fellow who
collects and catalogues Acaras for a hobby - by bicyling down to local
creeks with a few buddies, a net, snorkel and camera. It will be 10
years before a book captures where he is today, and then it will be 10
years out of date.

> 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.

I suggest a couple of good thick general reference books and then web
sites. They are not mutually exclusive, but I think the need for
accurate up to date books is not very big anymore. Fishbase.org alone
has over 25,000 fish listed. Show me a book with even 2,500 pages.

> Any help at all would be appreciated.
>
> DB

Sorry I couldn't be more help. Best of luck rebuilding after Katrina. I
have an extra copy of Innes Exotic Tropical Fish I could send you but
it's the 1966 edition reprinted in 1971, and honestly - it wasn't a very
good book then! Links I have lots of :o).

cheers
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Mr. Gardener]

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 01:08:19 GMT, "Big Dummy" >
wrote:

>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
>
>
Too bad the Red Cross didn't have a designated check box to divert
donations for rebuilding personal fish book libraries. Probably lots
of other kinds of personal libraries too. I've been bemoaning the lack
of good fish books, both general and species specific, available to
newbies as well as old timers. It seems like every book I pick up is
loaded with big pictures of Hagen or Tetra products - a species book
that wastes an entire page with a picture of a bag of Hagen Filter
Floss! Books printed very recently that extol the virtues of under
gravel filtration for all, while barely mentioning the HOBs and
canisters that most of us use and most beginners will choose. And the
TFH books with their thick picture pages that stick together. Nice
pics, but I don't buy books for the pics.

I look forward to seeing some suggestions from the group for fish
books that really inform and are worth the money. I find better
information sometimes in my 1938 Innes book than I do in some of the
newest junk on the pet store racks.

-- Mr Gardener

[Richard Sexton]

I'm not a cichlid person but "Fishes of Lake Tanganyka" is a must read
for any aquarist; it was written by Pierre Brichard who spend 35 years
collecting there and knows more about it than almost anyone. He covers
every fish, explains why they do what they do and why and has lots of
pictures of the biotope. It's not the usual "now here's a paragraph
on the next fish we've never actually kept" ISBN 0876664648.

The Fryer and Iles book is the other one I consider a "must have".

Fryer, G., and T.D. Iles. 1972. The cichlid fishes of the Great Lakes of Africa.
Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh; TFH Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey; 641 pp

I tend more towards boks that descibe the fish and biotome as opposed
to aquarists anecdotal experience.

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

[Richard Sexton]

>Sorry I couldn't be more help. Best of luck rebuilding after Katrina. I
>have an extra copy of Innes Exotic Tropical Fish I could send you but
>it's the 1966 edition reprinted in 1971, and honestly - it wasn't a very
>good book then! Links I have lots of :o).

It was leading edge in 1898 when he started writing it. :-)


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

[Altum]

Big Dummy wrote:

<snip>

> 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.

I've always liked Paul Loiselle's "Fishkeepers Guide to African
Cichlids," Tetra Press, 1988. It's a slim volume that starts with a
lot of basic fishkeeping information. The second half is basic species
information on the more popular riverine and rift lake cichlids. Many
of the scientific names have been changed since the book was written,
but other than that the information is good.

[Mr. Gardener]

On 21 Feb 2006 11:32:27 -0800, "Altum" > wrote:

>Big Dummy wrote:
>
><snip>
>
>> 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.
>
>I've always liked Paul Loiselle's "Fishkeepers Guide to African
>Cichlids," Tetra Press, 1988. It's a slim volume that starts with a
>lot of basic fishkeeping information. The second half is basic species
>information on the more popular riverine and rift lake cichlids. Many
>of the scientific names have been changed since the book was written,
>but other than that the information is good.

Regarding the limited budget for books, I've had a lot of great book
and music buying experiences at half.com. They've been absorbed into
eBay, well, more like adsorbed onto, since they maintain their own
identity and style. No bidding or eBay stuff, just pay the price and
the postage and get your book. I've gotten a lot of hard to find books
there, usually dirt cheap. I mean, the last book I bought there was
less than a dollar. Search by title, author, ISBN, subject etc etc.
http://www.half.ebay.com/

-- Mr Gardener