Natural Aquarium

I think the title and subtitle are not appropriate. The designs are not "natural", but they do exhibit good design principles. What I like about this book, over say Amano's, is that they show you how to do it. There are over 20 different layouts featured, exhibiting several different biomes. In each case, the authors show you a good photo of the finished product, then they give plan view and perspective drawings of the design elements (plants). All of the plants in the design drawings are labeled! So you can see exactly what they did. Complete specifications are also given as (DATA) too: water temp., tank dimensions, illumination stats, substrate, etc. This is an affordable book now and well worth the price.

I recieved this book about 4 days ago and looking through it find it a great resource. They used some very unusual method of prniting the images, they are super glossy almost like photos stuck into the book ratehr than a printed page. Very clear images. A little more info on tending for plants, substrate and filtration would have been great too. all in all well worth the purchse.

This is a beautifully photographed book, with many ideas for creating natural or biotope type aquarium setups. They range from heavily planted setups to rocky Rift Lake tanks. There are suggestions for fish, plants and technical considerations. The book does not go into large amounts of detail about individual fish species or habitats, but if you are looking for inspiration on aquascaping your tank(s), it is one of the best books I have seen on the subject.

I find myself repeately browsing the stunning photos for ideas. The data tables are a very useful list of optimal water conditions for each habitat. This is not a biology book, but an excellent resource for someone who wants to plan an aquascape. This book lists combinations of plants and fish (a very helpful start, in a hobby with thousands of options.) Now I can narrow my search for specific information on specific species of plants and fish from other books. This is a book that I go back to over and over.