AQUARIUMS

Advice to beginners on setting up and maintaining a community, one-species, breeder, nursery or salt water aquarium. Hoke covers basic physical conditions such as light, temperature and chemical makeup, necessary plants and other life forms, and variously important equipment, and he offers tips on such problems as selecting a heater and carrying the fish home from the store or baby-proofing a filter. Unlike Villiard (KR, 1971), Hoke doesn't go into the actual selection of species, but instead suggests reading up on the different species and then calling on the store proprietor for further advice. Villiard in fact is more thorough all round; Hoke will do as an easier first book that serious fish keepers can be expected to outgrow.