Conditioning, Spawning and Rearing of Fish With Emphasis on Marine Clownfish Paperback – August 20, 1996

As a final year marine biologist with a passion in ornamental fish rearing I've been keeping freshwater fish for about 8 years - 5 actively breeding and selling to shops on a small scale. I bought this book to advance my knowledge and extend it so that I could understand a more commercial based breeding approach for saltwater fish.Frank Hoff is no doubt very scientifically oriented. But as a fellow scientist myself, one thing we are taught is to be-able to convey information in a clear and concise way to the reader so that processes can be replicated easily. Frank's knowledge is strong, but it is not easy to grasp the ideas discussed. As you tend to find with high end professors or masters of the field, what they find simple to understand, others may say: "what on earth is going on." This is not helped by grammatical issues and sections that seem somewhat fragmented - which is what makes it difficult to interpret.Overall the book is still the most detailed I've come across but a revision will do everyone a favour. There is only so much you can obtain from a book and when you try to fit in so much information it really requires good editing to make it "flow" and be-able to sink in.

I really couldn't read this entire book. Actually, it borred the isht out of me early on and I put it down. This book is much more geared toward the 'semi-pro' fish breeders or marine biologists. This isn't for the casual reef keeper who just wants to have a pair of clownfish in the display that breed and then raise the spawn in a seperate smaller tank. Really way too technical of a read for casual hobbiests. Its 3 stars b/c I didn't read all of it and can't comment on the quality of the information provided (neutral review) - this book just isn't for the hobby market.

This one is different than any other aquaculture books around, since it has more academic and scientific approach to the subjects.Everything(and years of experience)explained in straight formal way with scientific charts, graphs and results.So it is not an "easy reading" or "read and forget" book.IMO a hobbyist should not try to finish the volume at once, but refer through different chapters when needed.A must have if you are really really want to get educated about aquaculture as a hobbyist, or a student.

If you're trying to breed clownfish at home and like the technical scientific background on commercial breeding, this is your book. It's not written for easy reading, and it's a bit too detailed in places and lacking in others. It makes a great place to look up data when you're having problems but tough to just sit down and read.T.M.

The book is a procedural book to help anyone breed and raise marine Clownfish to maturity. It was written as a how-to book explaining his experience running a commercial fish hatchery. He explained what worked and what did not, in a book to help someone who wants to breed and raise salt water fish attempting to help them steepen their learning curve while avoiding some of the mistakes they made.

It is a good book. You can know everything you whant to know about breeding clownfish. What I don't like are pictures, because don't have any color. But, enjoy.

I bought the book and scan the pages. I was a bit disappointed not seeing many good quality color photos. I got lost reading this book. It had lots of technical information and wish it to be simplied so anyone without knowledge can follow it step by step. Sorry this book was not so helpful for me.Feel free to read it maybe you may find it useful.

This book is full of information. But the information is difficult to understand. There is not even one photo illustrates in this book. All charts were written by hands. :(