Freshwater Aquariums (CompanionHouse Books) Essential Beginner-Friendly Guide to Setting Up Your Tank, Filtration, Health, Fish, Plants, Substrates, Lighting, and More

by Stuart Thraves, Peter Hiscock, Gina Sandford

The beginner-friendly guide to your freshwater aquarium! Perfect for beginners, Freshwater Aquariums provides the essential information that all freshwater fish keepers need to know to create a well-balanced and thriving freshwater aquarium! Illustrated with more than 300 beautiful full-color photographs and drawings, and packed with informative, helpful advice and easy to understand explanations, this stylish guide harnesses the experience of authors Stuart Thraves, Peter Hiscock, and Gina Sandford, all noteworthy writers and highly skilled fish keepers. Covering a wide range of topics, the first section of the book is a DIY manual for setting up your freshwater aquarium, detailing the types of substrates, furnishings, and plants recommend for keepers. It also offers information on lighting, filtration, and water management. The authors include basic husbandry info on feeding and health care of freshwater fish as well as maintaining a clean tank, all with practical, reliable advice. The second section of the book, "Fish, Plants, and Themed Aquariums," presents a selection of popular freshwater fish and aquarium plants along with a look at some ideas for setting up aquariums that reflect natural habitats around the world. The authors recommend that hobbyists consider fish by their families or groups so you can set up the right conditions for them. Featured are the following cichlids, catfish, barbs, characins, anabantoids, danios and rasboras, rainbowfish, livebearers, and loaches and sharks. The section on aquarium plants describes over 30 popular options, alphabetically arranged from Anubias barteri to Vallisneria spiralis 'Tiger'. The authors also share six imaginative themed aquariums — mountain stream, Central American river, flooded Amazon forest, Congo whitewater river, Lake Malawi, and Southeast Asian swamp. Each includes information on substrates, display, plants, filtration, and suitable fish. Covering everything from tank size to fish and plants, this Aquamaster book contains everything a beginner needs to set up and maintain a successful freshwater aquarium!

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a useful resource as my family got into building and maintaining an aquarium.

[Heather Laslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful basis for my first aquarium.