Source: QLD Newsletter, Volume 1 No. 1, June 1985, page 3. Authors: Allen G.R. and Cross N.J., Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1982, 142pp, $14.95. Reviewer: Ray Leggett. View original scan (PDF)

This is the first book to review the family Melanotaeniidae and to update all available knowledge from the field and for the aquarium.

The book covers maintenance and spawning of all the genera; evolution, zoogeography and classification are explained; and habitat is discussed for the various species, with many good photographs of collecting sites and specimens.

While the keys are useful, I feel the diagnosis would be of more value for the serious aquarist if the number of specimens examined had been included.

The authors refer to a successful hybridization across generic boundaries but, disappointingly for the serious aquarist and student of the family, they go no further. Were the fry raised to maturity? Were they viable for further breeding? Were there deformities? Why no facts and figures?

In all, however, I like the book’s layout and the photography is excellent.