# Which Planted Aquarium Books



## Jeweled (Jan 7, 2011)

Can anyone recommend any Aquarium Plant books which would include photos, coverage on plant cultivation and maintenance.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Personally, I like the ones by an author named Christel Kasselmann. They are books that have been translated from German, but her's appear to be the most informative of the 6 or so books I have. You can search for her on Amazon.


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## DocPoppi (Mar 4, 2011)

The Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants 
By Peter Hiscock

My wife got it for me this fathers day and it is very good.
You can get really good used copies online for under $10


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

Books are generally outdated before they're published, unfortunately. That's why I stick with the internet. While occasionally inaccurate, if you find consistent answers, they tend to be right.


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## DocPoppi (Mar 4, 2011)

Not really true when it comes to plants and fish.
I have books that are 30 plus years old and are incredible resources.
Using online data is awesome, but I'm old fashion and like my books.
Also anyone can publish/post online and what is said is often just not true, or miss quoted, or incorrectly identified.
Whereas one is more inclined to find edited and fact checked info in a reputedly published book. Esspesially book that are used as reference to almost all in the hobby.
I have many good bookmarks on plant sites, a couple are other forums, so I won't post them but I can PM if you are interested.
The book I just added to my collection is very well written, covers all the bases on plants, planted tanks, and good read for all levels of enthusiast.


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## theguppyman (Jan 10, 2010)

I have Two in PDF, one is called the Aquarium Plant Handbook By Oriental Aquariums (which I believe is of Takashi Amano origin ) and another one also in PDF called The Complete Aquarium Guide, I don't know the author. If you would like I could send you them PM me with you email if you want.


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

Hello Jeweled. Th Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants that Doc recommended is very good. It's been out since 2003 in hardback. The author Peter Hiscock, also came out with a smaller, paperback version called a Mini Encyclopedia in 2005.

Nasomi makes a good point about some of the plant books being a little out of date. I was recently asked by one of the forums to refrain from identifying plants because of inaccuracy and was actually using the Hiscock book. Not sure what other forum people were using or if they were just plant experts. 

B


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## theguppyman (Jan 10, 2010)

I have that one too the Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plant In PDF of course


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I've got 2 that I like:

"The 101 Best Aquarium Plants." By: Mary E. Sweeney (It's got an extra section that I like: "Plus 33 Species to Avoid."

"Mini Encyclopedia Aquarium Plants." By: Peter Hiscock.

They've both got sections in them on picking the plants, planting them, how to care for them, lots of good stuff!


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## DocPoppi (Mar 4, 2011)

BBradbury said:


> Nasomi makes a good point about some of the plant books being a little out of date. I was recently asked by one of the forums to refrain from identifying plants because of inaccuracy and was actually using the Hiscock book. Not sure what other forum people were using or if they were just plant experts.
> 
> B


I really like how a inocuous question like this sparks a good thread....
Firstly let me be bold enough to post two great links.
Plant Finder - Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants
PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide
There are a few others (including a plant forum) that are very informative, I've been berated for putting other forum names up b4.
Maybe I was outta line by saying what I did about online, but I believe the request was for a good book recommendation, and I do stand behind what I've said.... I am currious about the correction you got in the other forums. Taxonomy and Classifacation doesn't change all that much, but what I've seen for a very long time (even b4 the Internet) is if enough people call somthing a certain thing, it becomes that thing. An example may be like the Roseline Shark, which is a Puntis Barb not a shark. And if you do enough research you can find this out. Part of this is the typical LFS that miss names or calls something a more popular names or sell mystery aquatic plants as somthing close. There is also the globalization the Internet has created in the identifying game, as often many common names are given for the same species, but rarely do you see a scientific name change.
Ergo... Unless you were identifying something by a scientific name, you and your resource may well have been completely right. 
Then there is the "outdated thinking" of the husbandry of the hobby.
If you for instance look at a book on fishkeeping from let's say the 60's you would obviously not see the new technology of the hobby, but is everything in that book useless?
And any book still in publication that any particular person may or may not recommend, is likely to be valid and useful if not current.
I can think of many of examples, but I'm sure my point is made.

Again remember that things published on the Internet, can be submited by any shmo who wants to, and are often wrong as there is no global editing.
But respected authors, scientist, doctors, etc. that publish books tend to have a leg to stand on when it comes to credibility.

MHO 
DocPoppi


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Well...even good books don't always get you there. I have numerous books but have still had to use the internet to help me identify some things. The thing that the internet is best for is the amount of pics you can find for one plant. My largest book has one pic per plant. And if any of you have had lo and hi-tech tanks, then you know that some plants look differently between the two tanks. I have one that looks totally different between 2 hi-tech tanks. Look it up in any of my books and it looks nothing like the plant I have in my tank. Go to the interent and get through the tons of pics and you see that some do look like my plant. So, although books can outdated fast, the info is still valid regardless. It may not have some newer plant in it, but that is all. I would also say that you should verify through the internet on a lot of the stem plants out there. Some do look similar and jumping on the closest ID in your book is not always the best thing if it is very old.


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