Georg Mandahl-Barth (1910–1994)

This book was enjoyed for its aesthetics, not particularly valued for the information contained therein. It is very dated, and the care/technical data is rudimentary at best, although I can see that some basics have never changed. In some ways it was amusing or enlightening to read how different methods and equipment were of the past. But what I loved were the pictures. The first half of the book is full of color plates hand-painted by one N. Norvil, illustrating many popular species. At least, popular of the time! It was interesting to see which ones I could recognize and which have subtly changed shape or color over nearly five decades. Many which are deemed unpopular because of their particular habits, unattractive colors or difficulty in keeping are actually more familiar to me. Others I had never seen mention of at all, so those have obviously fallen out of favor by now. Species info was very basic, often noted that this fish or that one had never been known to breed in captivity, whereas I know that's not the case for many of them today. Helpfully, all the plates and the species notes have corresponding numbers, well-organized.

from the Dogear Diary… (más)