Two Great Books on Aquariums/Plants for us Newbies!!!

[betowess]

For newbies like myself, I wanted to post a couple of great resource books. I recently bought a hardcover used copy of the "Baensch Aquarium Atlas" for $24 in mint condition (990 pages of detailed, concise and easily digested information... with color photos on 600 fish and 100 plants).

Here I'll quote Aquarium notable Hoa G. Nguyen on Aquarium Atlas (by Dr. Rudiger Riehl & Hans A. Baensch): "The Baensch Aquarium Atlases are the bibles of the aquarium hobby. Very complete and informative."

Though first published in 1982 in Germany and not published in English until 1987, it is still considered one of the best resources for the beginning or intermediate level aquarist - so I've heard...

Another hardcover book which I bought for about $17 new was featured here at Aquarium Advice: "Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants" by Peter Hiscock.

It has very nice graphics, beautiful photographs and explanations on water chemistry, [acronym:3bc4d4882b="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:3bc4d4882b], and various planting diagrams and a wealth of practical information as well as plant profiles. This book is probably geared a bit more for beginners than folks well advanced on planted aquaria. It has three indexes, General, Plant (both common names and scientific) and Fish, which are all very helpful. I was surprised it did not mention flourite as a premium substrate, however. Just released in 2003.

Hope this helps... They are both alot of fun to look at!