• Hello guest! Are you an Apistogramma enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Apisto enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your fish and tanks and have a great time with other Apisto enthusiasts. Sign up today!

Quality book on Dwarf Cichlids?``

cwb141

New Member
Messages
5
I'm searching online for a quality book on dwarf cichlids. Mainly for the amount of species listed WITH PICTURES. I've come across a couple and the availability on Amazon.com seems to mostly be Aqualog volumes. I have the fist 3 volumes of the Baensch Atlas, and came across Baensch/Mergus Cichlid Atlas, Vol. 1 while browsing.

What would you recommend as an extensive guide to dwarf cichlids?
Books you have or have read/used.

The two I was looking at on Amazon were
http://www.amazon.com/South-American-Dwarf-Cichlids-Aqualog/dp/3931702294/ref=pd_sim_b_4
and
http://www.amazon.com/Baensch-Mergu...r_1_21?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294991151&sr=1-21

Regards,

Josh
 

ste12000

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
619
Location
Cheshire..UK
Hi Josh, there are lots of good quality dwarf cichlid books available. Best is the Cichlid atlas 1, this book is out of print and difficult to find, we keep hearing promises that it will be reprinted but that go's back 5 years or so with nothing official yet!!! snatch it up secondhand if you can find it! They do sometimes turn up on ebay ect ect..
Next is cichlid atlas 2 this lists/describes the new species found since the first book was published, its well worth having and is heavy in new species from Peru.

Picture ID books are Aqualog and Datz, i prefer the Datz book myself although both are good with clear pictures of species and sexes.

The Mayland book that you have found is getting old now but again is worth having in your collection, a lot of the newer fish are missing but the pictures are gorgeous and the info valid.

Next are the tetra books by Horst Linke, i have the full set and they are again a bit old but the info is valid and the pictures large, interesting and very useful..

I have all of the above books and use them all in my study of Apistogramma, my most used and treasured are the Datz and Cichlid atlas 1, although i do use the mayland and linke book to cross reference. All are reliable and accurate.

Goodluck in the search for cichlid atlas 1!!!
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
This is part of a post that I wrote about 3 years ago - and it still applies as far as I'm concerned:

As for books on dwarf cichlids, well each has it strengths and shortcomings.

'Cichlid Atlas 1' is a very good book filled with a lot of valuable information. Much of it comes from Uwe's PhD research. In my opinion, there are some questions about species identifications in CA1. I have a 3 page Word document of what I believe are misidentified species in this book. I must admit I have the advantage of recent information and access to collectors and enthusiasts that Uwe didn't have at the time. This book is now over 10 years old (original manuscript finished in 1997) and we have more information on distribution and biotopes of some species that were then little known. Still there were obvious ID errors in it as reported in the the German and English-speaking forums and magazines just after it was published.

I had problems with parts of CA2, which Mary Bailey (BCA) and I helped translate into English for Uwe, when I first got parts of the original manuscript. I feel that parts of it were a 'rush job' and not very well thought out. There are places in it that give contradictory data. He gave many of the fish species in it, which had already been introduced and given common names, different names. Not necessarily a real problem, since common names are't recognized by the ICZN. I now have a 1½ page document of what I believe are misidentified species in this book. That doesn't include the dozens of sticky labels on pages of my copy of the book that don't make sense or to me are wrong.

I won't say much about the DATZ book, since I am one of the contributors to this Special Publication/Sonderheft. It is basically a photographic compliment to Koslowski's 2002 book 'Die Buntbarsche Amerikas Band 2: Apistogramma & Co.' This book (Koslowski 2002) was based on data gleened from apisto collectors/hobbyists from all over the world. It was very comprehensive and the species accurately identified for the most part. The photos weren't very good (very dark, in fact) and was one of the reasons DATZ published the DATZ book. What I find particularly interesting is how Koslowski's species IDs so closely match the IDs derived from Miller & Schliewen's genetic studies. Obviously both Koslowski's and the DATZ books tend to be liberal in splitting species, but it is also conservative in that most of these splits come with a 'cf.' In this way they recognize that, although visually and genetically, different, there is still a question of them being separate species.
As for Aqualog's SACII, it's now a waste of money in my opinion. That is, if you want accurate identifications. It is quite old (almost 15 years old) and hasn't been updated with supplements in many years. Additionally, almost 20% of the species pictured are mis-identified. Still, the code numbers can be used as references to ask questions. The Aqualog Extra: the latest Apistogramma by Dieter Bork isn't too bad, but definitely isn't comprehensive.

The English versions of books by Linke & Staeck and Mayland and Bork are both OK, but old and no longer comprehensive when it comes to species.

To be honest, the references that I use the most are: The DATZ Book (2005), Koslowski (2002), and Cichlid Atlas 1 (1998), in that order. Other books I find valuable resources are Cichliden-Lexikon Teil 3 by Dr. Staeck and Die Buntbarsche der Neuen Welt - Zwergcichliden (1986 - I'm totally amazed at how accurate this book still is!). For anything more recent than 2005, I depend on people I know and my personal reference/picture library gleaned from them.
 

cwb141

New Member
Messages
5
Thanks for all the replies guys. I'll look into all the books you mentioned and see what works best for me.

I started out by buying one planted aquarium book, and now I have a healthy collection, so I'll probably end up stock piling dc books as well.
 

apistodave

Member
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
691
Location
Sisters, Oregon
This is part of a post that I wrote about 3 years ago - and it still applies as far as I'm concerned:
As for books on dwarf cichlids, well each has it strengths and shortcomings.

'Cichlid Atlas 1' is a very good book filled with a lot of valuable information. Much of it comes from Uwe's PhD research. In my opinion, there are some questions about species identifications in CA1. I have a 3 page Word document of what I believe are misidentified species in this book. I must admit I have the advantage of recent information and access to collectors and enthusiasts that Uwe didn't have at the time.
This book is now over 10 years old (original manuscript finished in 1997
) and we have more information on distribution and biotopes of some species that were then little known. Still there were obvious ID errors in it as reported in the the German and English-speaking forums and magazines just after it was published.

I had problems with parts of CA2, which Mary Bailey (BCA) and I helped translate into English for Uwe, when I first got parts of the original manuscript. I feel that parts of it were a 'rush job' and not very well thought out. There are places in it that give contradictory data. He gave many of the fish species in it, which had already been introduced and given common names, different names. Not necessarily a real problem, since common names are't recognized by the ICZN. I now have a 1½ page document of what I believe are misidentified species in this book. That doesn't include the dozens of sticky labels on pages of my copy of the book that don't make sense or to me are wrong.

I won't say much about the DATZ book, since I am one of the contributors to this Special Publication/Sonderheft. It is basically a photographic compliment to Koslowski's 2002 book 'Die Buntbarsche Amerikas Band 2: Apistogramma & Co.' This book (Koslowski 2002) was based on data gleened from apisto collectors/hobbyists from all over the world. It was very comprehensive and the species accurately identified for the most part. The photos weren't very good (very dark, in fact) and was one of the reasons DATZ published the DATZ book. What I find particularly interesting is how Koslowski's species IDs so closely match the IDs derived from Miller & Schliewen's genetic studies. Obviously both Koslowski's and the DATZ books tend to be liberal in splitting species, but it is also conservative in that most of these splits come with a 'cf.' In this way they recognize that, although visually and genetically, different, there is still a question of them being separate species.
As for Aqualog's SACII, it's now a waste of money in my opinion. That is, if you want accurate identifications. It is quite old (almost 15 years old) and hasn't been updated with supplements in many years. Additionally, almost 20% of the species pictured are mis-identified. Still, the code numbers can be used as references to ask questions. The Aqualog Extra: the latest Apistogramma by Dieter Bork isn't too bad, but definitely isn't comprehensive.

The English versions of books by Linke & Staeck and Mayland and Bork are both OK, but old and no longer comprehensive when it comes to species.

To be honest, the references that I use the most are: The DATZ Book (2005), Koslowski (2002), and Cichlid Atlas 1 (1998), in that order. Other books I find valuable resources are Cichliden-Lexikon Teil 3 by Dr. Staeck and Die Buntbarsche der Neuen Welt - Zwergcichliden (1986 - I'm totally amazed at how accurate this book still is!). For anything more recent than 2005, I depend on people I know and my personal reference/picture library gleaned from them.

Damn--ten years already Mike--I just turned 60 too!
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
17,915
Messages
116,201
Members
13,027
Latest member
tonc61

Latest profile posts

Josh wrote on anewbie's profile.
Testing
EDO
Longtime fish enthusiast for over 70years......keen on Apistos now. How do I post videos?
Looking for some help with fighting electric blue rams :(
Partial updated Peruvian list have more than this. Please PM FOR ANY QUESTIONS so hard to post with all the ads poping up every 2 seconds….
Top