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Hi guys,

Just wondering, are there any books on aquascaping (showing different aquascapes for inspiration) & aquatic plants (care & maintenance) that you can particularly recommend? The one I've seen mentioned here before are Waldstadt's Ecology of Planted Aquariums. How about the Amano's books? Kasselmann's & Hiscock's books also get good reviews in Amazon. Anyone has those?

Cheers!

-P

Hi upikabu

I'm surprised you don't want details of that book I borrowed (tongue in cheek - trying not to giggle) . I'm sure you recall the lovely picture that included various kitchen utensils.

Sorry, couldn't resist this. Also, sorry I don't have anything really helpful to say. That was the only book I found on aquascaping in my library.



Cheers
TW

Robyn,
Yeah, I remember your book, especially the one with Christmas theme.
Did you tell the library to recycle that book?

-P

upikabo,

I got all 3 Amano Books and the Christel Kasselman as well, although I have her book on plants and not on scapes (which just recently I found out may exist).

The Amanos are great, but all are Amano style, if you know what I mean.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo,

How do you like the Kasselmann's book (vs. say the info you can get online)? Do you have the original German version? I've heard some people say it is the book to get, but it's quite expensive. I just don't want to get a book that talks about exotic plants that the average aquarist cannot even get their hands on.

Thanks,
-P

p.s. I just ordered the first volume of the Amano book. If nothing else, it might give me some inspiration.

-P

upikabo,

The Kasselmann book is great. Almost all common aquarium plants are listed in great detail, with natural water conditions, growth numbers, plant structure details, and what not. The last part in the book are new plants that have not been common when the first version of the book was written, but this is also a point where the book has a problem as not all new plants available to the hobby are listed.

I haven't been into fish until way after I left Germany, so I have the American edition. Why getting the info from this book and not somewhere online? Because I trust the books info 100%.

Overall, an awesome book, it became my bible when I researched the plants for the 125 (and Bensaf was the other main source).

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks Ingo, that's helpful.
Last question: is it a heavy book? It's not available here, so I have to order it when I go to the US in a couple of months. With all the shopping the wife's planning to do there, I have to make sure I can slip it into the luggage without her noticing.

-P

Well,

It is not light

It is smaller than letter size, but really thick.

Sorry, but I suck when guessing weights, but maybe it is around 1kg.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I just got a new book.

I haven't gone all the way through it but it seems pretty cool thus far.

ISBN 0-7641-5521-0
Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants
Peter Hiscock

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

No worries. As long as it's not as heavy as a phone book.

Cheers,
-Paulus

-P

Oops, just saw your post Wings.
Would love to know your opinion on that book. It's one of the few I've been considering. Is the info on that book quite basic (vs. say the info on tropica.com)?

Thanks!

-P

I also have a copy of the Peter Hiscock book and have found it to be a pretty well rounded book. Gives examples of various tank setups as well as suggestions for plants in different types of tanks with varying water parameters, temperatures, etc. It's not an overly large book, so shipping should be minimal.

Here's a link to a description of it on Amazon, which might prove beneficial to you.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764155210/sr=8-1/qid=1140310371/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9691248-2355048?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

the amano book is wonderful but nonthing i could ever fathom doing, his work is out of this world.

chris

Can anyone suggest a good aquascaping book? I have one that describes the types of plants and such...I really would like to get one that focuses more on the aquascaping and placement of plants.
Any suggestions?

(Sorry to hijack....i thought this thread was a great idea!)

I am thinking about getting the Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants by Hiscock. It has been mentioned here. Does it have any aquascaping in it?

*Kristin*

GirlieGirl,

Get the Amano Books mentioned above, if you like that style. All that get only book one will be dissapointed because very little reference is made to the plants and fishies in the tanks, it is more of a show. But books 2 and 3 list all plants and fish, plus some sequences of how scapes change when the tank ages.

But be warned, it may blow your mind

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks LittleFish. I need some inspiration for my tanks. My brain is fried from school most of the time so at the moment I have almost no imagination.


*Kristin*

The Hiscock book does give some examples for plant layouts with illustrations showing placement of driftwood, rocks and the plants as well.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

I saw that there is a book on Amazon now called Aquascaping (that's not in German by Moe Martin. It might be worth checking out - lots of great colorful photos and I think it's a free Kindle borrow at the moment so you can save some money.


Taylor