Article © Heok Hee Ng, uploaded January 01, 2002.

I'm pretty sure most of you are pretty tired of reacting to another Corydoras book (I'm pretty tired myself). So, with all the offerings out there, the inevitable question arises: what sets this apart from the rest of the pack? I have both good news and bad.

First the bad. If like me, you have owned just about every Corydoras book there is, this book doesn't really have all that much to offer when compared against larger, more comprehensive works. The advertisements on pages 28 and 69 can be something of a blight to purists (at least one wasn't subject to direct advertising in TFH publications, although there was the insidiousness of product endorsement to contend with). A number of the photographs are disappointing (too much flash, or perhaps overcorrecting with Photoshop, leading to extremely washed out images), given that Aqualog presumably has one of the largest image libraries to choose from.

Next the good. This is a fairly reasonable offering, if you are just starting out with Corydoras. At least, I would recommend this in place of any TFH offering on the same subject. Coverage of the subjects (taxonomy, ecology and breeding) is sufficiently broad that the beginner can pick up quite a bit (although some subjects are not covered in great depth).

All in all, an average book that does not distinguish itself all that well from the rest of the pack.

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