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Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies
Covers the latest aquarium gadgets
Design a dazzling underwater environment with this bestselling guide!
Setting up your first freshwater aquarium can be a daunting task. This friendly guide answers all your questions, from setting up your tank and selecting fish to the water, chemicals, plants, and much more. There's also expanded guidance on combining different species of fish, maintaining a tank, cleaning gravel, and dealing with common problems such as algae.
Discover how to
* Choose the right aquarium
* Select the best fish
* Get good deals on equipment
* Maintain a clean, healthy environment
* Handle tank pitfalls
* Breed your fish
Design a dazzling underwater environment with this bestselling guide!
Setting up your first freshwater aquarium can be a daunting task. This friendly guide answers all your questions, from setting up your tank and selecting fish to the water, chemicals, plants, and much more. There's also expanded guidance on combining different species of fish, maintaining a tank, cleaning gravel, and dealing with common problems such as algae.
Discover how to
* Choose the right aquarium
* Select the best fish
* Get good deals on equipment
* Maintain a clean, healthy environment
* Handle tank pitfalls
* Breed your fish
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
39 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 19, 2024
Excellent resource. Started off very basic, then included several chapters on plants and fish medicine I'll treat as primary sources when I'm trying to diagnose problems with my tank. Didn't appreciate the author ragging on decor for aesthetic reasons (sometimes non-natural is ok!).
May 11, 2019
A solid overview of the hobby targeted at beginners setting up their first tanks. Though I’m relatively new to the hobby, having set up my aquarium a few months ago, I knew most of the information here. This book covers a range of relevant topics, but doesn’t go into much depth on any one.
I think there could have been more information on selecting fish, there seems to be an equal amount, if not more, on aquatic plants. There were also only a few fish mentioned, and quite a few left out. While I wasn’t expecting an exhaustive list, this seems a key section that should have been more robust. I skimmed through, but I didn’t see much on compatability. For example, I learned from other books that different fish like to swim in different parts of the tank which is a factor to consider. Ive learned that angelfish are fin-nippers and shouldn’t be kept with guppies or bettas, but that’s not mentioned.
If you’re completely new to the hobby, this is a helpful guide, but you’ll want to supplement with other books. There are helpful tables and bullet lists and lots of subsections make for quick reading. But there is only a limited photo insert of 20 photos and a few Illustrations. Ultimately, this isn’t a book I’ll keep.
I looked at quite a few guides, many checked out of the library. The one I’d recommend over this one is Setting Up a Tropical Aquarium Week-by-Week by Stuart Thraves, which covers the same information and has color illustrations throughout, particularly helpful in selecting fish and plants. I’d supplement it or this book with The 101 Best Tropical Fishes by Kathleen Wood which is well-organized and gives more detailed information on specific fish, ease of care, minimum tank size, and compatabilty, and has color photos throughout.
I think there could have been more information on selecting fish, there seems to be an equal amount, if not more, on aquatic plants. There were also only a few fish mentioned, and quite a few left out. While I wasn’t expecting an exhaustive list, this seems a key section that should have been more robust. I skimmed through, but I didn’t see much on compatability. For example, I learned from other books that different fish like to swim in different parts of the tank which is a factor to consider. Ive learned that angelfish are fin-nippers and shouldn’t be kept with guppies or bettas, but that’s not mentioned.
If you’re completely new to the hobby, this is a helpful guide, but you’ll want to supplement with other books. There are helpful tables and bullet lists and lots of subsections make for quick reading. But there is only a limited photo insert of 20 photos and a few Illustrations. Ultimately, this isn’t a book I’ll keep.
I looked at quite a few guides, many checked out of the library. The one I’d recommend over this one is Setting Up a Tropical Aquarium Week-by-Week by Stuart Thraves, which covers the same information and has color illustrations throughout, particularly helpful in selecting fish and plants. I’d supplement it or this book with The 101 Best Tropical Fishes by Kathleen Wood which is well-organized and gives more detailed information on specific fish, ease of care, minimum tank size, and compatabilty, and has color photos throughout.
December 14, 2021
Describes the parts of aquarium keeping, all vague but don't worry, the book assures you that no matter what or why, everything is superneato. Little if any practical application, prostletizes and makes lists of aquarium options, but doesn't seek to actually help novices learn anything about the options, or reasons for choosing one over another. Nope, just, "some ppl do X", "others do Y". Wtf is X and whats it good for? "Trust me, it's awesome, moving on, I have to list the names of fish my target audience is assumed not to know about, and then not tell them anything about those fish".
Instructs aquarists not to use brights colours bc "it's ugly". I actually got madder every time it made another stupid news-headline-pun chapter titles and tongue in cheek quips bookending every paragraph like we're trapped in a dystopia where adults used elementary school public speaking "speech" dialect. If half of the time and book volume it took to write these stupid jokes went towards making this book helpful, this book would be much smaller and would have an actual purpose.
Almost nothing on live plants, despite having a chapter concerning live plants. It says things like, "some fish will destroy plants, so don't get them".
Perhaps this is the book you give your 8 year old, but if you're the adult over their shoulder responsible for teaching them how to keep their pet alive, or you're looking to care for your own aquariums, look up Aquarium Co-op on YouTube. This book spends so much time saying nothing, and there are so so so many things that need mentioning in bare basics and just aren't there. And it has tons of stuff that is too basic for anyone like a whole chapter called something like Aquariums Are Where Fish Live that reads like Cars, Trucks and Things That Go, no offense to Richard Scarry.
When I started I had a ton of questions and none of them were "Is this thing I want actually ugly and in poor taste?"
Instructs aquarists not to use brights colours bc "it's ugly". I actually got madder every time it made another stupid news-headline-pun chapter titles and tongue in cheek quips bookending every paragraph like we're trapped in a dystopia where adults used elementary school public speaking "speech" dialect. If half of the time and book volume it took to write these stupid jokes went towards making this book helpful, this book would be much smaller and would have an actual purpose.
Almost nothing on live plants, despite having a chapter concerning live plants. It says things like, "some fish will destroy plants, so don't get them".
Perhaps this is the book you give your 8 year old, but if you're the adult over their shoulder responsible for teaching them how to keep their pet alive, or you're looking to care for your own aquariums, look up Aquarium Co-op on YouTube. This book spends so much time saying nothing, and there are so so so many things that need mentioning in bare basics and just aren't there. And it has tons of stuff that is too basic for anyone like a whole chapter called something like Aquariums Are Where Fish Live that reads like Cars, Trucks and Things That Go, no offense to Richard Scarry.
When I started I had a ton of questions and none of them were "Is this thing I want actually ugly and in poor taste?"
September 25, 2021
A good book to start with for novice aquarists and fish-keepers. Good information about everything you need to know before you set up your aquarium. The only downside is the lack of enough pictorial representations; therefore giving it a 4 start instead of 5.
April 16, 2024
I read the 3rd edition and I’m going to look into if there are any newer ones published but this was pretty good! I wish there was more information about quite a few things including mystery snails but overall it was good and helpful, I need to do water changes more often :/
April 23, 2018
This book was helpful, but not that helpful. I do have ten or so pages marked for future use, but the rest of the book was mostly a waste of space.
October 7, 2020
Great general info on how to keep an aquarium.
August 10, 2016
FRESHWATER AQUARIUMS FOR DUMMIES BY MADDY HARDGROVE might not have a current publication day (2006) but it is still the best fish book I've read so far. I am returning into the world of freshwater aquariums after about a ten year hiatus and needed a refresher course on keeping freshwater fish & the aquariums they live in . I have always been a big fan of the "dummies" series because the experts who write them get down on my level using little technical terms and lots of one syllable words that I can understand. This book is not only good for people like me returning to the fishy world by newbies & even experienced people can maybe learn a thing or two from it. One good thing about the book is you dont need to read it all you can skip chapters that are not needed & the information keeps coming and coming . Well worth the cost this one is going in my shelf of reference for when I and my finny friends need a little advice.
May 11, 2019
Everything that was there was excellent and easy to follow, as a Dummies book should be! I just wish there had been a more in-depth section about some particular fish. There was some, but it needed more information. Popular or beginner-friendly fish with a photo, average size, preferred temperature/pH/salinity, gallons needed, whether they're schooling or solo, compatibility with other popular fish, where they swim, and any other notable care instructions would have been great.
What would have been perfect would be a few "sample tanks"--combos of fish that typically go well together and appropriate plants, substrate, etc. for a tank containing them. Not that I'm looking for a complete kit, but a little more direction in that area would be great.
What would have been perfect would be a few "sample tanks"--combos of fish that typically go well together and appropriate plants, substrate, etc. for a tank containing them. Not that I'm looking for a complete kit, but a little more direction in that area would be great.
January 20, 2016
A very good book to read before you buy your first aquarium. Some of the information is a little more advanced, but that can be skipped unless you really want to know things like the science behind the compounds that lead to high or low pH. Even remembering everything discussed in the book shouldn't be the end of learning about how to set up and maintain your tank. I believe the information contained in the book should be combined with knowledge you get from talking to more experienced and successful aquarium owners.
February 9, 2013
I read this book because I plan on getting African Dwarf Frogs and this would be my first aquarium. This book is great and tells you everything from setting up the proper aquarium to caring for the fish. It's a great book to have and reference because it talks about the different illnesses a fish may get and how to treat them. Great book for beginners
August 15, 2013
Standard 'Dummies' format I know and love. Is wordy in many places but covers the fundamentals; the sections on water and the nitrogen cycle were very useful to know. Only disappointment was a lack of information on how many fish you can/should have in an an aquarium.
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January 27, 2009what to do with my fishies....and my snails
November 5, 2011
This is one of the best guides. to keeping fish I love it.
August 2, 2012
This was a fun and very good informational book. I set up my aquarium and its awesome
May 3, 2013
Entertaining and educational. Highly recommend it for aquarium newbies.
February 2, 2014
Not as useful as i had hoped
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February 1, 2018The editor missed a few typos along the way. Good information. I think I would use "The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums as my primary source" but this one fills in some gaps in that one. A good complement to read both. I think The Simple Guide covers cycling better.
May 29, 2018
Good resource
I've been thinking of getting back in to my childhood hobby of keeping freshwater tropical fish. Reading this book was a good refresher and gave me a few new tips. It convinced me to take the plunge and buy an aquarium
I've been thinking of getting back in to my childhood hobby of keeping freshwater tropical fish. Reading this book was a good refresher and gave me a few new tips. It convinced me to take the plunge and buy an aquarium
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews