10 Best Books about Fish Keeping in 2024 – Reviews & Top Picks

One of the best weapons available to keep in your arsenal as a fish keeper is fish-keeping books. These books range from beginner to expert, and they cover any fish or aquarium you can dream up. Books are a great resource to keep on hand to access any time a question arises about caring for your aquarium. We have dug up and reviewed the best books covering fish keeping to help you always have a reliable resource available to provide your fish with the best care possible.

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites

	Image	Product	Details
		The Truth About Goldfish	Features color pictures throughout Paperback and e-book formats Budget-friendly option	Check Price
		Betta Fish Care: The Ultimate Guide	Best value Recommends products for medical treatments Tablet or Kindle is not required to access this PDF book	Check Price
		Koi: A Complete Guide to Their Care	190 pages long Discusses how to purchase high-quality koi Multiple qualified authors	Check Price
		Livebearers: Understanding Guppies, Mollies, Swordtails & Others	Comprehensive care guide for livebearer fish Available in e-book and hardcover formats Contains photos and distribution maps	Check Price
		Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies	400 pages long Great book for beginners Available in four formats	Check Price

The 10 Best Books about Fish Keeping

The Truth About Goldfish by Meredith Clawson is the best overall book about fish keeping. This is 160 pages long and features multiple color pictures throughout. This book includes general tank setup and care information about goldfish including suggested tank mates and information regarding medical care. There is a treatment index that features QR codes, allowing you to quickly access the correct medication to treat your goldfish with.

This book is available in paperback and e-book formats. It’s a budget-friendly fish-keeping book option, especially if you’re a goldfish enthusiast.

The older version of this book does not contain color photos and contains more QR codes throughout. Multiple people had complaints about these items, so they were updated in the 2021 book update, but older hard copies of the book will still contain these.

Betta Fish Care: The Ultimate Guide by It’s a Fish Thing is the best book about fish keeping for the money. This book comes only in a PDF format, but it features 79 pages covering all aspects of betta fish care. Since it is in a PDF format, a tablet or Kindle is not required to access this book.

It contains information about the history of the betta as a pet fish, betta fish anatomy, tank setup, tank mates, dietary needs, and even how to train your betta fish and enrich their environment. It also covers betta health conditions and how to treat them, including specific product recommendations for treatment of each condition.

Koi: A Complete Guide to Their Care and Color Varieties by Bernice Brewster, Nick Fletcher, Steve Hickling, Keith Holmes, Mick Martin, and Tony Pitham is a comprehensive koi fish care guide that sells for a slightly more premium price than many other fish-keeping books. It has 190 pages of information, including full-color diagrams describing the anatomy of koi fish and how to identify different breeds. It also includes information regarding how to purchase healthy and high-quality koi fish.

Not only does this book contain information on basic koi care, but it contains detailed information on designing and setting up the perfect pond to care for and showcase your koi fish. With multiple qualified authors, there is a ton of good, reliable information. It’s only available in paperback form.

Livebearers: Understanding Guppies, Mollies, Swordtails & Others by David Alderton is a comprehensive book covering the care of freshwater livebearers. This book is available in e-book and hardcover formats and features 144 pages of information. This book contains information on the history, care, and tank setup for these fish, as well as their unique reproductive habits. There are photos and distribution maps covering 16 different species and breeds of livebearers, putting the natural needs of these fish into perspective.

This book contains lots of great information, especially for people who are new to the care of livebearers. It doesn’t contain much information for experienced livebearer fish keepers, though.

Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies by Madelaine Francis Heleine is a great book resource for beginners, as the name implies. However, it is not a very good book option for advanced fish keepers since most of the information is very basic, beginner-level info.

This book features 400 pages of information covering everything from basic to luxury aquarium setup, as well as how to maintain the ecosystem and cycle of a tank. It also discusses how to choose a tank and fish to suit your vision. It’s available in e-book, paperback, digital audiobook, and CD audiobook formats, allowing you to read or listen to this book anywhere.

Saltwater Aquariums for Dummies by Gregory Skomal is the saltwater counterpart to the freshwater Dummies book. It’s 352 pages long and features quality beginner information but does have limited usefulness for experienced saltwater aquarium keepers. It discusses saltwater aquarium setup best practices and how to maintain your aquarium.

It includes a full color insert to help you better visualize the saltwater tank of your dreams. It’s available in e-book and paperback formats. The information in this book discussing sump filtration, which is one of the most common types of filtration in saltwater tanks, is limited and doesn’t contain any diagrams explaining how these complex filters function.

Today’s Essential Guide to the Freshwater Aquariums by Stuart Thraves, Peter Hiscock, and Gina Sandford contains 96 pages of information about the setup of freshwater aquariums and the care of freshwater fish. It contains over 300 full-color photos throughout the book and covers everything from proper filtration to how to feed your freshwater fish.

It includes six aquarium theme ideas with breakdowns of how to set up that type of tank, including a Southeast Asian swamp, Congo whitewater river, and a flooded Amazon forest. Some of the information in this book is oversimplified to a degree which isn’t usually required in books for adults. It’s only available in paperback format at this time.

Discus World: A Complete Manual for the Discus Keeper by Chris Ingham is a solid book choice if you’re interested in keeping the discus fish, which does have some specific care needs. It covers discus fish of all kinds, including wild and domestic-kept discus fish. It discusses tank setup and cycling, including how to set up a tank on a tight budget.

There is great information in this book regarding sexing and breeding discus, and even how to set up a discus business. It’s available in e-book and paperback formats and features 184 pages of information.

This is a UK-based book, so many of the products referenced are UK-specific, which can make it difficult for US audiences to use this book to its full potential. Some of the information is based on the author’s personal experiences and not necessarily science-backed information.

Saltwater Fish and Reef Tanks: From Beginner to Expert by Zechariah Blanchard features 154 pages of saltwater and reef tank care information. It’s available in e-book and paperback formats, and it is written by a saltwater and reef enthusiast who also has a background as an aquatic store owner.

It includes a setup checklist and guidance on how to select the right tank to achieve your goals. And if you’ve ever found yourself in need of moving your tank, there is guidance on how to do this without ruining your tank or crashing its cycle. There’s also information on how to be a responsible reef keeper.

The pictures are in black and white, and the illustrations may be difficult to get good information from.

10. Reef Aquariums

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Reef Aquariums by Anthony Daniels contains 164 pages of reef keeping information and is available in audiobook, e-book, and paperback format. It details how to select corals for your reef tank, how to feed and care for your corals, and how to maintain your aquarium once established. It also discusses what fish are appropriate for reef tanks, helping you choose the perfect inhabitants.

This book is not an overly in-depth review of the care of reef tanks, so it may not be a great resource for experienced reef keepers. Currently, this book has not been updated since 2019. While not much has changed since then in reef keeping, some information may be outdated.

• • See Also: 10 Best Cat Books For Cat Lovers – Reviews & Top Picks

Buyer’s Guide: Selecting The Best Book about Fish Keeping

With all the different fish-keeping books out there, it can be hard to know which one would be the best for you or to give as a gift. Here are things to consider before buying a fish book:

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  • 6 Best Goldfish Books Every Aquarist Should Read

Conclusion

Only you know what vision you have for your aquarium, so use these reviews to find your best starting point, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced aquarist. The best overall book about fish keeping is The Truth About Goldfish, which is a great resource for all things goldfish. The most budget-friendly option is Betta Fish Care: The Ultimate Guide, which makes caring for one of the most popular pet fish easy and accessible for all knowledge levels. Koi: A Complete Guide to Their Care and Color Varieties is the top resource for pond setup and koi fish care.

Featured Image Credit: Ron Kuenitz, Shutterstock