Source: In-Stream 11(5), October 2002, page 16. Author: Harro Hieronimus, AQUALOG, 2002, 176pp. Reviewer: Adrian Tappin. View original scan (PDF)

This is the latest offering from the AQUALOG series of reference books. These reference works endeavour to show all known species of a particular group in one volume. Each fish is introduced with a code number, care instruction symbols and a colour photo. Just what is the benefit of assigning code numbers and symbols escapes me but I guess some people might find them useful. Text is provided in both English and German languages which I found a bit confusing and irritating when trying to read flowing text. I don’t understand the reason for bilingual text but I guess it relates to production costs. Personally I would rather see separate English and German editions, or at least separate the English and German text.

The following families and nearly all of the species have been included: Atherinidae, Atherinopsidae, Bedotiidae, Dentatherinidae, Melanotaeniidae, Notocheiridae, Phallostethidae, Pseudomugilidae and Telmatherinidae. A complete list of the families with a short description as well as a complete list of species is included.

This is essentially a ‘picture’ (identification) book and includes a plethora of photographs from sources not usually available to the average aquarist. However, I can’t help but be somewhat critical of the graphical reproduction of many of the photographs. I have had the opportunity to view many of the original slides and know that they look much better than the way that they have been presented in the book. I would guess that some of the photographers would not be all too happy either.

Some photographs such as Melanotaenia fluviatilis by Rudie Kuiter (top right) on page 93 would appear to be a case of over enhancement. There are many other examples throughout the rainbowfish section, and some photographs are just of poor quality. Also many species have been allocated four or more photographs which are all too similar in appearance and in my opinion are just wasting space. A better use of book space could have been served by reducing the number of repetitive photographs and having only four larger photographs per page instead of the usually eight.

Rainbowfishes display a great natural assortment of colours. Populations of almost every river system have their own distinctive body colour and pattern. Consequently, specific names usually based on the locality where each is found are used by aquarium enthusiasts to identify each variety. Some colour varieties look totally different and to the uninitiated can look like a different species. These features have been presented in this book more complete than ever before and, in addition, with correct locality data.

Overall the book serves its function reasonably well, and will be a useful addition to the bookshelf of those interested in rainbows and their related families.