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Iam going to be getting a encyclopeida, on freshwater fish, and I was just wondering what the best one is, I notice there are alot out there, but I know some arnt so good. Thanks

The Baensch Atlas, hands down. The first volume is a good place to start (used off Amazon it's not too dear), but look into the second and third. Then if you start to specialize more, there's a Cichlid atlas and a group of others that have been translated, not to mention the photo index.

-Molly
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What is the diffence of the three volumes?

The Baensch Atlas is very good as it has information of the fish included.

If you are only after pictures so you can decide which you want and researc them first, then the Bede Atlas for Freshwater Aquarium Fishes by Jurgen Schmidt is the one. I have one and it's very difficult NOT to find a fish that's not in this book (apart from the newly discovered species of course!)


cichlidmad attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/400881.jpg"]

It's basically arranged by when the fish were discovered, so Volume 1 has most of the fish you'll see in stores, but not some recent finds (and it's lacking some that were discovered but weren't, presumably, available to Baensch and co. for studies, like most of the Rainbowfish). It's particularly excellent with Characins, Cyprinids, catfish, killies, cichlids of all types and locals, and some oddities. Volumes 2-5, of which 2 and 3 have been translated into english so far, basically flesh out volume one with more recent finds and rarer fish. So unless you're big into Rainbows, Volume 1 should cover 99.5% of your needs (and with about an extra thousand entries you may never need, but will enjoy looking at), and then you can always suppliment later with 2 and 3. Not only do these have great pictures, but they have significant info on every fish, and it's quite accurate - which can't be said about a lot of the recent editions of Axelrod's atlas (well, he was busy cheating on his taxes, no time to fact-check his own work, right?).

-Molly
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I like Encyclopedia of Tropical Fishes (whatever the latest edition is... mine is Axelrod and Vorderwinkler) it has a lot of information on breeding the many species inside. Lots of photos too. I think there is one cory that is mislabeled, but that's all that's 'wrong' with it. It had virtually every fish you're likely to come into contact with except some of the rarer loricariids or maybe puffers (though perhaps newer editions do have them). All in one volume. Well it's very good for an encyclopedia.

If you're looking for an Atlas, Dr. Axelrod's Atlas of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes is quite extensive, though I don't personally have a copy.

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Try looking in the library, why waste $40. or more on a book when you can use it for stuff for your tank ?

Library books are free and you can renew them over and over...

The Amazon Nut...

Or how about the internet. Thats where i get most of my info from.