Cold Water Fish

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See also:
Marine fish
Tropical fish
Advice on pond fish
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Goldfish (Gold Medal Guide)

Amanda O´Neill
Interpet Publishing (31 Mar 2004)
ISBN-10: 1842860917
ISBN-13: 978-1842860915 
 
This book is a very good introduction to keeping goldfish which is clear enough for older children to understand. Amanda O´Neill covers the basics very well. It´s certainly well worth investing in this book if your child is thinking of keeping goldfish, or has just brought one home. It can save fishy lives by explaining how to give the goldfish a pleasant and healthy place to live, and how to feed the fish correctly.  Enthusiasts who want to take up the hobby seriously will need more information, but as a starter book, this is one of the best.

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A Practical Guide to Setting Up Your Cold Water Aquarium: How to Create a Beautiful and Successful Environment for Your Fish (Tankmaster)  

Nick Fletcher
Interpet Publishing; illustrated edition (July 2000) 
ISBN-10: 1903098068 
ISBN-13: 978-1903098066

 
 Cold water fish can be as interesting and rewarding as tropical fish, and there is less worry about heating the water to a level compatible with the different types of warm water fish . Fish keepers still need to ensure that water quality is good, and that they keep the fish healthy by other disease prevention measures,  including giving each fish enough space for its size and type. This book helps both with aquarium design, and provides help with choosing fish. It can save you a lot of money and heartache if you read it before you set up the aquarium and buy the fish, though this book is also useful for people who already have fish and want to learn more about keeping them healthy and happy.

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An Interpet Guide to Fancy Goldfishes (Fishkeeper's Guides) [Hardcover]

Chris Andrews
Interpet Publishing; New edition (31 July 1999)
ISBN-10: 1902389646
ISBN-13: 978-1902389646

The author, Dr Chris Andrews is well known for his work on aquarium fishkeeping. He is a zoologist with deep  specialist knowledge about fish, such as fish parasites, diseases and nutrition. He has also been the Aquarium curator at London Zoo, before working at Baltimore's National Aquarium in Baltimore.  This is more than a guide with pretty pictures, Chris Andrews knows his stuff, though you can also enjoy the book for the sheer wonder at what has been achieved by goldfish breeders.

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Koi For Dummies [Paperback]

R. D. Bartlett
John Wiley & Sons (2 Mar 2007)
ISBN-10: 0470099135
ISBN-13: 978-0470099131 

Keeping koi takes more thought than keeping goldfish. Koi are quite expensive, and a lot of thought has gone into the breeding of the finer specimens. They can be long-lived and reward you with their beauty as you sit by the pool on a sumer's day. You can even learn how to breed koi, but first you need to learn the basics for providing them with a healthy environment, and for choosing good, healthy stock as your pioneer fish.  This guide gives you a wealth of information, from building ponds and setting up aquaria, to prevention and treatment of disease and parasites, and even helps with coping during a power cut. It is clearly written enough for novices, and has enough information to be useful for people who already keep koi.

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Mini Encyclopedia of Keeping Koi [Paperback]

Keith Holmes, Tony Pitham, and Nick Fletcher
Interpet Publishing (1 May 2005)
ISBN-10: 1842861069
ISBN-13: 978-1842861066

This is a very useful practical guide on Koi keeping, with both technical advice for people setting up Koi ponds, and help on choosing Koi. There is also an interesting account on the history of Koi. It's a pocket book, which makes it easy to take into the garden with you. It is very clearly written, even for non-technical people. This Mini-encyclopedia is a great help for beginners, and for people who already have Koi and want to tackle problems, or just want to know more about Koi keeping. The book is also well-illustrated, which makes it a nice present to give to someone with Koi who doesn't have it already.

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Creating a Koi Pond: An Essential Guide to Building and Maintaining (Pondmaster) [Hardcover]

Keith Holmes  and Tony Pitham
Interpet Publishing (15 July 2002)
ISBN-10: 1842860631
ISBN-13: 978-1842860632 

This book may be short, but it is extremely useful for anyone planning on building a koi pond, and who needs to know how to maintain it once it is built. There´s an explanation of the special needs of koi, the different types of filtration, pumps and heaters that you can use, and weed control. You name it, whatever you need to know on pond building and maintenance, and the topic is tackled. This is what it says, a guide with essential information before making decisions on pond design, and this information can save you money in the long run, and help your fish stay healthy and live long lives.

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Encyclopedia of Aquarium & Pond Fish [Paperback]

David Alderton
Dorling Kindersley; Re-issue edition (1 Aug 2011)
ISBN-10: 1405378824
ISBN-13: 978-1405378826

This guide gives you information on all types of fish, including tropical and marine, as well as cold water and fresh water fish.  There is information on more than 800 species, their needs, size, and other information to help you choose fish. Specialists in different types of fish will want more in-depth information, but this is a very attrcative guide for people deciding what types of fish to specialise in, whether to go for a pond or aquarium, and the basic demands of each system whether marine, or tropical, or a coldwater pond. It is also an attractive book which would make a good present for people who just like fish.

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Nutrition of Pond Fishes [Paperback]

Balfour Hepher
Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (19 Mar 2009)
ISBN-10: 0521105471
ISBN-13: 978-0521105477

This is a serious work on fish nutrition, which combines information from different academic disciplines, such as ecology, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, and animal nutrition. Dr Hepher was a pioneer in this field, and his work is a classic, representing some three decades of research. This is not a book for your average fishkeeper, but it is a fascinating reference book for anyone seriously interested in aquaculture and fish biology.

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Fancy Goldfish : A Complete Guide to Care and Collections

Erik L. Johnson, Erik Johnson, Fred Rosenzweig
Weatherhill Inc
ISBN: 0834804484

This is a well-illustrated guide to keeping and breeding fancy goldfish, for more specialist fish keepers. It's clearly written, and is a good very introduction to fancy goldfish for those who want to move beyond the basics. Real fanatics may prefer to get their teeth into Smartt's guide to goldfish genetics and breeding.

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Goldfish Breeding and Genetics

Joseph Smartt
TFH Publications
ISBN: 0793800900

Joseph Smartt has written a serious work on goldfish breeding, which includes a short course in basic genetics. You can just enjoy the illustrations and information about the history of goldfish breeding, but the real meat of the book is in its coverage of goldfish genetics. This book is for the true enthusiast, and is the key text for really serious goldfish breeders. There is also help with other aspects of successful breeding such as maintaining good water quality.

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Water Garden Encyclopedia
Philip Swindells
Publisher: Interpet Publishing
ISBN: 1903098483

This guide to water gardens is a sumptuous book, lavishly illustrated, with photos of gardens to drool over, as well as clear diagrams and photographs of equipment needed to set up a water garden.

The chapter on container gardening is especially useful for people with very small gardens. The book as a whole gives a wealth of ideas for people who want to set up water gardens, and it is especially strong on design, construction and maintenance. The chapter on aquatic plants gives some good ideas on which plants to choose, as well as advice on care. This chapter also has a lot of information on propagation, which, as any serious gardener knows, is one of the most enjoyable aspects of gardening.

Generally, this is a lovely book, with a lot of information, but there are some areas that receive scant treatment. There is some basic information on fish keeping, though not really enough for anyone who wants to do more than keep a few goldfish in a large pond. It would perhaps be wise to inform readers of the dangers of overfeeding fish, after the author tells them what fun it is to feed fish in summer!

One topic that I would have liked to have seen covered more is the role of water gardens in conservation. Garden ponds are very important refuges for amphibians, which can be entertaining visitors, especially during their breeding season. Fish may suffer from the amorous advances of frogs, so it is worth giving pond owners advice on how to keep them apart, as well as general advice on providing a good habitat for amphibians.

Water gardens can consume a lot of water, which can make them expensive for people who have water meters, and which is of course a problem when there are water shortages. People most likely to want a water garden are perhaps those people who live in the drier parts of Britain, and it is not a good idea to encourage them to use a lot of water for ponds when there may be a shortage of drinking water. A section on water conservation would help to tackle this problem, for example, on types of water features with low water consumption, and on ways of reducing evaporation.

A personal peeve is that there was too much on decking. I would have preferred the six pages on decking to have been replaced with information on amphibians and water conservation.

Perhaps one reason for the absence of advice on conservation and restraint in using water, is that this book oozes indulgence. It promises little oases in our back gardens, places where we can pamper ourselves and recharge our batteries. The author obviously loves his subject, and he transmits his sense of wonder at the possibilities offered by water gardens. This is an ideal gift, both because of the beautiful illustrations and the practical advice. It is not quite an encyclopaedia, but is certainly a lovely book to read.

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Pond Owners Handbook

John Dawes
Ward Lock
ISBN 0706377656

This is an especially useful guide for anyone setting up a garden pond, with advice on all aspects of pond life and pond maintenance, such as setting up the pond, plants, wildlife, and what to do about unwanted visitors, such as blanket weed and herons! The author is a fishkeeping specialist who has published extensively on fishkeeping and pond life. He has something to offer all pond enthusiasts, from people who keep fish in a small water feature, to those with large ponds, and from novices to experienced enthusiasts.

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