RE: So, what do people think about Kasselmann?

["Gary Lange" <gwlange at mindspring_com>]

I own a fair amount of plant books,  now  including the "catalog books",
Dennerle, Oriental, and Tropica.  All of them are lacking, in some way,
including this new book.
However, if I were even mildly interested in plants I would get this book.
I would however take her culture notes with a big grain of salt.  There
might be something there but maybe not.  If you have 2-3 years experience in
growing plants with CO2 and have kept it going without crashing I would
suggest that you trust your own instincts instead.

Example: Red Root Floater - Phyllanthus fluitans - "The culture of this
beautiful, small floating plant is rarely successful in the aquarium, which
is also why it is rarely commercially avialable."  I am not an expert on
plants and I don't tweak too much other than adding some TMG and a little
phosphate when I remember.  I "reset" my tank with a 40-50% water change
every other week for the sake of the rainbowfish.  It grows like a weed for
me at 2.4 watts/gallon  with PC's & CO2.  Others in my aquarium club also
grow this weed at about 1.5 watts per gallon and typically throw out 3-4
pounds of it every other week.  I'm sure others can find one of their
favorite "weeds" that is also listed as difficult to grow.  This one really
stood out for me.
I guess the info on Didiplis diandra might also make me think that I would
have trouble growing it, but it also grows fairly easily.  So if you see
something you like in the book but are worried you might not be able to grow
it don't let that stop you from trying :-)

That said I would absolutely buy the book.  If you don't have any books yet
I would make this the first one to buy.  Although I haven't been spending as
much time reading it as I could I do find something interesting every time I
pick it up.  There are some good ID pictures here also so it's worth the
price just for that alone.  Over the last few years of taking plant ID shots
myself I've come to realize how difficult this really is to do.  You have to
have something in the shot to give you perspective yet get close enough so
that you get an idea of what the leaf actually looks like.  The translation
from German to English - doesn't seem to be too stiff or stilted at all,
although you might find some of us kidding about it since Karen helped check
out the final version.  Thanks to all who finally got this book released.
So what are you waiting for, go out and buy a copy!

Gary Lange
www.rainbowfishes.org
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Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 19:16:59 -0400
From: "James Purchase" <jppurchase at rogers_com>
Subject: So, what do people think about Kasselmann?

I can't be the only one who has been pouring over the new Kasselmann book (I
haven't really put it down for long since it arrived in the mail the other
day....). What do people think of it???