Have you read any book when you started tank or ...

[ABCAquarium]

When you started out, did you learn from books or mostly from online resources? A few of my friends have recently recommended a book that’s described as a ‘game changer’ — has anyone read it and found it useful?

How to Set Up Your First Fish Tank: A Simple Guide for Beginners: Fish Tank Setup, Aquarium Cycling, Equipment, and Easy Maintenance Tips (Fish Are Easy) Paperback – 15 Dec. 2025 by Patryk Majeran – AquaBay.co.uk – The UK’s No. 1 Marketplace for Aqua

aquabay.co.uk

 

[fishorama]

We had a Little Golden Book of Tropical Fish that barely explained cycling but at least mentioned it. I think it was from the late 70s or early 80s. We also relied on library books, much less on fish stores, they just wanted to sell us stuff...even when they were right, lol.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I had two sources of information when I began researching to set up my first tank. One was the internet which was still in its first few years of being easily browsable. But, I also bought a hard cover copy of he Baensch Aquarium Atlas which is 2 inches thick and over 991 pages. It covered a lot of ground and had pictures and great information on many species of FW fish and plants. It is how I created my fish wish list. If the picture of a fish attracted me I would read all the info to see if I could keep it in the size tanks I had etc.

I had a list on which zebra plecos and Betta imbellis were two species at the top of the list. It took me longer to get the imbellis than the zebras. I set up my first tank at the end of Jan 2001. I went online on the net as opposed to dial-up where I dialed into a hosting computer of one things like a bank or a game one could play. To change sites, you hung up and then dialed into another computer. I got windows 98 at the end of 98 and a new PC and was online for real. So, I did a ton of searching and reading in the back half of 2000 getting educated to keeping fish. Or so I thought.

I do not have a many books added since then. I have Ingo Seidel's book Back to Nature Guide to L-Catfishes and have been lucky to have met and talked with him several times at events. I have The 101 Best Freshwater Nano Species by Mark Denaro (whom I know) and Rachel O'Leary who is a friend for many years. I have two books I do not remember getting- Lee Finley's Catfishes The complete guide to the successful care and breeding of more than 100 catfish species and An INTERPET Guide to Community Fishes by Dick Mills: "A splendid introduction to the care and breeding of 60 freshwater tropical fishes for the community tank."

Finally, I have this final book which is not only excellent and unique, but was a gift from Jools of Planetcatfish.com. What makes it unique is that is is written in both English and German. For every species of fish it covers it has a map showing where it lives in the wild, a picture of the fish and, for many species, a picture of an actual place it can typically be found in the wild. At the the 2022 Catfish convention I had the chance to meet and talk with Leandro Sousa who is one of the 4 authors of this book.

https://www.seriouslyfish.com/loricariids-of-the-middle-xingu-river-2nd-edition/

I have worked with a number of the B&W Hypancistrus from the Volta Grande (Big Bend) of the Rio Xingu which began with zebras in Apr.2006. I also have a small conglomerate rock from the Xingu which was also a gift from Jools. I have always had it in a one of the Hypancistrus breeding tanks and is now in the only one I still have.

I have been very lucky in the fish folks whom I have met in the past 25 years. The Baensch Atlas, without doubt. was a big help early on. But I stumbled onto a fish forum back in late 01 or early 02 which had some really experienced fish people on it who put up up will a real novice like me. The reason I got my breeding group of zebras was due to a woman I met there.