Herbert R. Axelrod

I actually quite enjoyed reading this book, but it's not at all what it seems. Or what everyone else assumes it to be- most places I saw it listed online had for the description something along the lines of "a complete care guide for angelfishes" etc. Um, not really. It's actually a collection of articles from early days of Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, all on the subject of angelfish of course, published together in this book. Written by two prominent men in the hobby who early on show more studied, collected and bred angelfishes. Back in the days when tapwater was simply "aged" before using in the tank because dechlorinator wasn't invented yet, When live foods were collected from ponds or raised regularly, because the only other thing you could feed your fish was scrapings of raw beef heart- flake not yet being manufactured. The first chapter jumps straight into a personal narrative about how Dr. Axelrod got his first pair of angelfish and started a breeding operation. Then there are chapters describing collecting trips to the Amazon and Rio Negro in Brazil, and another about a visit to a large fish farm in Singapore. All quite engaging and full of interesting little details. There's a chapter on how different angelfish varieties were developed, and some details on the scientific names and identification of species which I kind of glossed over. Next a section on angelfish genetics, and finally one on how to choose good specimens, breed them and raise the fry. Ending is abrupt. Of interest for what it is, but I'd not really consider this a care manual. The photographs of different angelfish types are really good quality, considering how old the book is. show less

This book is a catalog of fish species. It's the first of an impressive series of ten volumes that aimed to describe every known species in the Pacific- many that -at the time- had never been photographed before. I have to admit some of the photos are rather poor quality- the fish so deftly camouflaged against the background you can barely see it, or the photo is just blurry and indistinct. But the majority are stunning, especially when you consider their age. I thought the descriptions show more might be strictly scientific or dull, but it's actually interesting reading- each section tells of the known distinguishing characteristics of the fish. Including physical features, curious feeding habits, mating behavior, methods of finding food, avoiding predators, raising the young (or not) and the like. Brief enough that you remained fixated on the reason you opened the book: to peruse the vast array of pictures (489 color plates). It's particularly nice that there are repeated images of the same species- some show the difference between males and females, or how juveniles change into adults, or just individual variations. I was really intrigued by the first set of pictures, showing how several kinds of marine angelfishes morph from juvenile colors into adult form. I knew that they change appearance completely- but not how. Here the intermediate stages are shown- with one color form and pattern overlaying the other on the fish's sides. Sometimes the photos were able to show a series of the exact same individual, as it was reared in captivity. Visually fascinating.

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It's odd to say I read this book, as it was more a motion of looking at the pictures. The first half of it was rather disappointing: the many pictures of wrasse species for example, are dark and dull with very little of their vivid colors showing.... However there also also plenty with clear definition of scales and pattern, and I am really intrigued with the curiously cute images of some butterfly fish and surgeon fish at a very young age- just past the larval stage it says. Also really show more cool are the photos showing filefish mimics compared to the puffers they imitate. The text itself isn't nearly as interesting as the pictures. I do not recall a single instance of it describing anything about behavior- it's all physical description and things like how many fin rays or what kind of tooth structure defines one species from the next. Oh well. I'm keeping this one in my collection because it's part of the set, and I do find plenty of the photos interesting to look at.

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This book which ambitiously attempted to depict every marine fish species of a particular area, was once again more enjoyable in terms of looking at the pictures, than actually reading the text. Although it seemed not as dry as the last volume, and a bit more info bits on behavior of the fishes. I was a bit disappointed that several sections of photographs (or illustrations, when photos were lacking) in the book appeared to have no description- the parrotfishes, for example, were shown but show more not described in text. Perhaps they have details in one of the other volumes. I looked up some fifteen species, because although the details are very clear in the book's photos, the colors are usually duller than life. The christmas wrasse is particularly stunning, the lionfish and turkeyfishes are as always, fairly spectacular-looking, and the ribbon eel- blue or black- is mesmerizing if you find a video showing its swimming motion. Wow. Also lots of squirrelfishes, toadfishes, goatfishes, frogfishes, stonefishes, flounders or soles, chromis, clownfishes, gobies, rays, sharks and lots of open-water fishes -both predator and prey- are depicted. Such a wide variety of life in the seas.

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