Usefull books for beginners.....

Troylee · Mar 2, 2011

here is a great collection books for valuable info for the new and advanced Aquariust...please feel free to add any books you like...

Some Useful Books for Beginners

There is plenty to learn when starting to keep marines, so reading a good book or two is an excellent place to start.

Here is a selection of books to start you off. There are many others, but remember ideas are evolving all the time so make sure you get a modern book.

These are books that the New Member Help team have read and found useful:

Aquarium

The Conscientious Marine Aquarist - Robert M Fenner 2001 (original 1998)

A good guide to setting up (occasionally slightly dated) and a useful section on fish and corals

Natural Reef Aquariums - John H Tullock 2001
Using live rock and live sand as part of a natural filtration system

Your First Marine Aquarium (A Complete Pet Owner's Manual) - John Tullock 1998
Inexpensive, and a useful first book

The Reef Aquarium volume three: Science, Art, and Technology - Delbeek & Spung 2005
A new book covering the latest techniques of reef keeping.
This may or may not suit you as a first book, but definitely one to read at some point.

Reef Secrets - Nilsen & Fossa 2002
Starting right, selecting stock, biotope techniques. Contains a guide, with pictures, to corals, invertebrates, & fish

Fish & Invert reference

Marine Fishes - Scott W Michael 2001
An excellent small guide to aquarium fish and their care requirements

Marine Invertebrates - Ronald L Shimek 2004
An excellent small guide to aquarium corals, shrimps, snails etc

Reef Aquarium Fishes - Scott W Michael 2006
His latest small guide to aquarium fish and their care requirements - with some new-to-the-hobby species

Troylee · Mar 2, 2011

Corals

Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry and Natural History - Eric H Borneman 2004 (original 2001)
The best coral book. Coral care and identification. Get it

Corals: Quick Reference Guide - Julian Sprung 1999
A good guide to corals, complete with a placement guide (lighting needs, water flow, aggressiveness, hardiness)

Inverts

Reef invertebrates - Calfo & Fenner 2003
A guide to selection, care and compatibility of a broad variety of invertebrates

Invertebrates: Quick Ref Guide - Julian Sprung 2001
Covers all those other inverts - sponges, slugs, crabs, urchins, stars etc

Troylee · Mar 2, 2011

Clownfishes by Joyce D. Wilkerson (1997)

A guide to the care of the different clownfish species as well as their hosts!

Now i'm not kidding; for newby, begginers its full of solid info for those who don't have a clue. When i started i couldn't understand the other books in the library except this one. Its straight foreward very well structure for the new guy or girl who want to start. Its not pretentious, its very cheap and was my first guide that helped me overcome too many questions i had, but couldn't find a simple answer in the big books. GREAT BUY, GREAT VALUE FOR BEGINNERS.

Troylee · Mar 2, 2011

Im sure Anthony has a few i didn't get in here that would be of great value also...

shred5 · Mar 2, 2011

Clownfishes by Joyce D. Wilkerson is no longer in print.. Cost of this book used is getting real high. I can not beleive this book is not in print anymore.. number one book for breeding fish too...

Dave Polzin

Wy Renegade · Mar 2, 2011

Excellent list Lee! I would add

Reef Aquarium Vol I and II by Sprung/Delbeck are also worth reading; more of a coral guide.

Reef Fish Identification by Allen/Steene

Reef Secrets by Alf Jacob Nilsen and Svein A. Fossa

I've also heard that the Complete Marine Aquarium by Vincent B. Hargreaves is pretty good as well.

butts182 · Mar 2, 2011

Natural Reef Aquariums is definitely a good book. I have it and read it back when I knew nothing. Now I know more, but still have a ways to go. I love to learn here though! Great bunch of people here!

mdb_talon · Mar 2, 2011

Troylee said:
Im sure Anthony has a few i didn't get in here that would be of great value also...

"Book of Coral Propagation" by Anthony Calfo is by far my favorite for begfnner to advanced it has so much info but never feels like you are reading a science book. A joy to read and learn a lot at the same time. Very informative and in my opinion named way too narrowly because it teaches about so much more than propagation.

Paul_N · Mar 2, 2011

Troylee said:
Im sure Anthony has a few i didn't get in here that would be of great value also...

Amazon.com: Book of Coral Propagation, Volume 1 Edition 2: Reef Gardening for Aquarists (9780980236507): Anthony Calfo, Christine Williams, Anthony Calfo and Christine Williams: Books

Zef004 · Mar 2, 2011

This needs to be a sticky

Great ID lee to make a thread like this.

Troylee · Mar 2, 2011

Thanks for the kind words and adding your favorites I would love to get this newbie section rocking and get more people involved this great hobby...

keep them coming peeps...1smile1

Tabasco1 · Mar 2, 2011

+1 for Calfo's Book of Coral Propagation and Reef Invertabrates. I own both and have read over the past year. I like them because he inects humor and anecdotal experience into what could be VERY dry subject matter so it was fairly easy to read. Both books also go into great detail about the foundation of husbandry from rockscaping, curing live rock and differences in how sand performs at varying sizes.

Tabasco1 · Mar 2, 2011

oh and +1 that this should be made a sticky. I had to look for a bit to find books to get me started.

Tabasco1 · Mar 2, 2011

Sorry for the triple post-but forgot about this book. I have not read it, but have heard alot of good things about it. I am probably going to purchase it soon. But deals with propagation of shrimp, primarily peppermints as the title suggests.

How To Raise & Train Your Peppermint Shrimp

"How to raise and train your peppermint shrimp"

shred5 · Mar 3, 2011

Modern coral reef aquarium series needs to be added. These are my favorites book. Not really for begginers and a little older now but still one of the best books out there especially volumn one and two.

Dave Polzin

m and m · Mar 3, 2011

Paul_PSU said:
Amazon.com: Book of Coral Propagation, Volume 1 Edition 2: Reef Gardening for Aquarists (9780980236507): Anthony Calfo, Christine Williams, Anthony Calfo and Christine Williams: Books

I agree with this 100%, it may have propagation in the name but there is a enormous amount of info on a aquarium. I mean there is a complete chapter on EQU and not name whats better then what, but specifically what it does and how it effects the tank.

Anthony Calfo · Mar 3, 2011

Let me suggest a hard to find oddball but an immensely interesting book: "the Living Aquarium" by Crescent publishing

It's an out of print book but they produced a lot of them. Available off an on at Amazon, frequently for cheap. This is one of the most comprehensive aquarium books I have ever read. Fresh, brackish and marine...cutting edge for its time (freshwater refugia!). The chapters on building aquaria alone are worth it for the price (clear instructions for building glass with charts for thickness pending height and length over a run...plus fiberglass and insulated plywood tanks!).

Truly a great beginners book.