Does anyone else collect vintage aquarium books?

[Biota_Marine]

Just like fashion, aquarium trends and husbandry practices evolve over time. Take a look at Dr. Burgess’ Marine Aquariums from 1980, for example. Back then, many tanks were decorated with coral skeletons instead of live rock, with fish taking center stage as the main attraction. Captive bred tang and angelfish may as well have been a Jetson's episode plot, and many of these vintage aquarium maintenance products have long gone extinct.

While styles have drastically changed since then, these old books often contain hidden gems of wisdom you won’t always find in online forums or groups today.

Are you a fan of vintage aquarium books? Who’s your favorite pioneer author in the reef-keeping world, and what’s the best advice you’ve picked up from their work? Let’s share some inspiration from the past!

 

[Waters]

I don't collect them but I do have quite a few, including the one you posted. It is funny reading back through them and seeing how much things have changed lol.

 

[tharbin]

I don't collect them either but still have a few. I gave away dozens of aquarium books during one of my moves along with hundreds of other books I wish I had kept. I also gave away all of my magazines including almost every issue of FAMA. Oh well.

I did have 'Marine Aquaria' back then but it is gone. TFH produced a lot of decent, for the time, information on marine life and aquaria. They also produced a lot of pamphlet-type booklets that could be put into red binders they made that gave a little information on various genera. My favorite author in the 80s was probably Spotte although Burgess and de Graaf were also go-tos. I have thought about trying to find copies of some of the books I gave away but I'm not really sure why.

 

[56longroof]

That brings back some memories.

 

[JGT]

How about magazines? I have about 50 of these in my basement from back in the day.

 

[tharbin]

How about magazines? I have about 50 of these in my basement from back in the day.

I miss these more than the books. Do you have any of the booklets they put out? I seem to recall one with a blue cover that I think was DIY projects. At least I do have the books Julian Sprung put out that were revised from his Reef Notes columns. But FAMA had lots of great DIY articles and was where I initially learned about both wet/dry sumps and the Berlin Method.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Just like fashion, aquarium trends and husbandry practices evolve over time. Take a look at Dr. Burgess’ Marine Aquariums from 1980, for example. Back then, many tanks were decorated with coral skeletons instead of live rock, with fish taking center stage as the main attraction. Captive bred tang and angelfish may as well have been a Jetson's episode plot, and many of these vintage aquarium maintenance products have long gone extinct.

While styles have drastically changed since then, these old books often contain hidden gems of wisdom you won’t always find in online forums or groups today.

Are you a fan of vintage aquarium books? Who’s your favorite pioneer author in the reef-keeping world, and what’s the best advice you’ve picked up from their work? Let’s share some inspiration from the past!

Just like fashion, aquarium trends and husbandry practices evolve over time. Take a look at Dr. Burgess’ Marine Aquariums from 1980, for example. Back then, many tanks were decorated with coral skeletons instead of live rock, with fish taking center stage as the main attraction. Captive bred tang and angelfish may as well have been a Jetson's episode plot, and many of these vintage aquarium maintenance products have long gone extinct.

While styles have drastically changed since then, these old books often contain hidden gems of wisdom you won’t always find in online forums or groups today.

Are you a fan of vintage aquarium books? Who’s your favorite pioneer author in the reef-keeping world, and what’s the best advice you’ve picked up from their work? Let’s share some inspiration from the past!

I collect some vintage and antique aquarium books. I wrote an article about building a home library:

Building a Home Aquarium Reference Library - AMAZONAS Magazine

There are times when I think that the ideal library is composed solely of reference books. They are like understanding friends - always ready to change the subject when you have had enough of this or that.

www.amazonasmagazine.com

 

[JGT]

I miss these more than the books. Do you have any of the booklets they put out? I seem to recall one with a blue cover that I think was DIY projects. At least I do have the books Julian Sprung put out that were revised from his Reef Notes columns. But FAMA had lots of great DIY articles and was where I initially learned about both wet/dry sumps and the Berlin Method.

Hmm, don’t recall the booklets.

 

[tharbin]

Hmm, don’t recall the booklets.

They were topic-based reprints from the magazine.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I miss these more than the books. Do you have any of the booklets they put out? I seem to recall one with a blue cover that I think was DIY projects. At least I do have the books Julian Sprung put out that were revised from his Reef Notes columns. But FAMA had lots of great DIY articles and was where I initially learned about both wet/dry sumps and the Berlin Method.

The blue softcover "For What It's Worth" was a compilation of DIY submissions from readers of FAMA. They would give a free subscription if they used your material, so I wrote some up over the years to get the magazine for free (grin).

 

[Thalasstronaut]

I don’t have any aquarium literature, though I’d like to. Something like this would be really cool as a historical time capsule, even if the instructional aspect is largely outdated. Always cool to see how far the hobby has come.

 

[tharbin]

The blue softcover "For What It's Worth" was a compilation of DIY submissions from readers of FAMA. They would give a free subscription if they used your material, so I wrote some up over the years to get the magazine for free (grin).

Thanks, that's the one I was remembering. Good to know I'm not losing it, well not completely anyway.

 

[tharbin]

I collect some vintage and antique aquarium books. I wrote an article about building a home library:

Building a Home Aquarium Reference Library - AMAZONAS Magazine

There are times when I think that the ideal library is composed solely of reference books. They are like understanding friends - always ready to change the subject when you have had enough of this or that.

www.amazonasmagazine.com

Nice article Jay, thanks for the link.

 

[fish farmer]

Just like fashion, aquarium trends and husbandry practices evolve over time. Take a look at Dr. Burgess’ Marine Aquariums from 1980, for example. Back then, many tanks were decorated with coral skeletons instead of live rock, with fish taking center stage as the main attraction. Captive bred tang and angelfish may as well have been a Jetson's episode plot, and many of these vintage aquarium maintenance products have long gone extinct.

While styles have drastically changed since then, these old books often contain hidden gems of wisdom you won’t always find in online forums or groups today.

Are you a fan of vintage aquarium books? Who’s your favorite pioneer author in the reef-keeping world, and what’s the best advice you’ve picked up from their work? Let’s share some inspiration from the past!

I had that book when it was new. My first salt tank was around that time, I was 11 or 12.

I had a collection of pamphlets from the early 1970s all fresh focused.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Something like this would be really cool as a historical time capsule, even if the instructional aspect is largely outdated. Always cool to see how far the hobby has come.

Tullochs Natural Reef Aquariums, Sprung & Delbeecks The Reef Aquarium Vols 1 - 3, Sprungs Reef Notes 1 - 4, Escobars Aquatic Systems Engineering and Grant’s Fishes of Australia steadfastly remain on my bookshelf. Recommended reading and there is no doubt you could set up a successful reef tank using these references alone.

 

[vlangel]

LOL, I guess I am not as vintage as the rest of you. My vintage library is slightly newer than the books previously mentioned. Just kidding, I enjoyed freshwater fish keeping from the 70s but did not get into saltwater until the 90s when I got a job at a pet store that had a great fish and coral section. We employees were encouraged to read the books the store sold or that were in the store library.

The first book I bought was 'The Conscientious Marine Aquarist' by Robert M. Fenner. It was written well for a beginner like me and I learned a lot. Another book that was in our petstore library was 'Marine Fishes' 500+ essential to know aquarium species by Scott W. Michael. I eventually added that pocket guide to my own collection. Next I bought Eric H. Borneman's 'Aquarium Corals' selection, husbandry and natural history. The final book I bought was 'Clownfishes' by Joyce D Wilkerson. That book helped me successfully raise clownfish larvae from the eggs my pair of tomato clownfish laid into juvenile clownfish. The last big influence on my marine education was taking an online course with Pete Giwonja and Ocean Rider on Seahorse Keeping. That course helped me successfully raise erectus seahorse fry into 4-6 months old seahorses. I still have the books.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

The first book I bought was 'The Conscientious Marine Aquarist' by Robert M. Fenner. It was written well for a beginner like me and I learned a lot.

Great book and at the time was a running joke between my brother and I.

Brother: Mate, I’m struggling with GHA at the moment.

Me: If you were a more conscientious marine aquarist you’d likely not have that problem.

Hilarious at the time but I guess we were smoking a few bongs.

 

[tharbin]

LOL, I guess I am not as vintage as the rest of you. My vintage library is slightly newer than the books previously mentioned. Just kidding, I enjoyed freshwater fish keeping from the 70s but did not get into saltwater until the 90s when I got a job at a pet store that had a great fish and coral section. We employees were encouraged to read the books the store sold or that were in the store library.

The first book I bought was 'The Conscientious Marine Aquarist' by Robert M. Fenner. It was written well for a beginner like me and I learned a lot. Another book that was in our petstore library was 'Marine Fishes' 500+ essential to know aquarium species by Scott W. Michael. I eventually added that pocket guide to my own collection. Next I bought Eric H. Borneman's 'Aquarium Corals' selection, husbandry and natural history. The final book I bought was 'Clownfishes' by Joyce D Wilkerson. That book helped me successfully raise clownfish larvae from the eggs my pair of tomato clownfish laid into juvenile clownfish. The last big influence on my marine education was taking an online course with Pete Giwonja and Ocean Rider on Seahorse Keeping. That course helped me successfully raise erectus seahorse fry into 4-6 months old seahorses. I still have the books.

These are all really good authors and good books. A little newer than some of the above but certainly just as relevant and more timely.

 

[b.clark]

Just like fashion, aquarium trends and husbandry practices evolve over time. Take a look at Dr. Burgess’ Marine Aquariums from 1980, for example. Back then, many tanks were decorated with coral skeletons instead of live rock, with fish taking center stage as the main attraction. Captive bred tang and angelfish may as well have been a Jetson's episode plot, and many of these vintage aquarium maintenance products have long gone extinct.

While styles have drastically changed since then, these old books often contain hidden gems of wisdom you won’t always find in online forums or groups today.

Are you a fan of vintage aquarium books? Who’s your favorite pioneer author in the reef-keeping world, and what’s the best advice you’ve picked up from their work? Let’s share some inspiration from the past!

I have

Just like fashion, aquarium trends and husbandry practices evolve over time. Take a look at Dr. Burgess’ Marine Aquariums from 1980, for example. Back then, many tanks were decorated with coral skeletons instead of live rock, with fish taking center stage as the main attraction. Captive bred tang and angelfish may as well have been a Jetson's episode plot, and many of these vintage aquarium maintenance products have long gone extinct.

While styles have drastically changed since then, these old books often contain hidden gems of wisdom you won’t always find in online forums or groups today.

Are you a fan of vintage aquarium books? Who’s your favorite pioneer author in the reef-keeping world, and what’s the best advice you’ve picked up from their work? Let’s share some inspiration from the past!

I still have this book. Set my 1st tank up from it 30 years ago. Had a huge puffer, panther grouper, yellow tang and many other fish. Used to take the dead coral out and bleach it to keep it looking clean.

 

[ieatbugman]

I have a dummies guide to saltwater fish keeping, which is not vintage but reads like it.