New book coming: Fish from the Orinoco in the Wild by Ivan Mikolji
Freshwater fishkeepers and anyone who loves water and nature should add this forthcoming book to their Christmas lists.
Written, photographed and put together entirely by aquatic explorer and naturalist Ivan Mikolji, the book contains stunningly beautiful photography as well as species profiles of 150 fish species from the Orinoco river system in Venezuela.
Mikolji manages to get up close and personal underwater shots of every species included in the book, by spending hundreds of hours underwater in streams, river and pools, waiting motionless for the fish to come up close to him while still conducting their natural behaviour. This has offered some unique observations and insights into how these fish survive and behave in the wild, and the book offers intriguing first-hand documentation of several common aquarium species including much rarer and more sought after ones.
The book not only contains amazing photos of these fish in their natural surroundings, it includes water parameters, precise locations and detailed habitat descriptions, the likes of which will prove invaluable to biotopers and anyone who wants to find out more about their Orinoco catfish, cichlids and characins and actually where and how they live in the wild. Plant species are included too.
Fishbase
Ivan has collaborated with Fishbase for distribution data and dozens of Ichthyologists including scientific revision by Donald Taphorn to makes sure that it’s also bang-on in terms of accuracy of information.
Fish from the Orinoco in the Wild is being put together as we speak, and we will confirm more details like price and availability as we learn more. For aquatic book collectors and serious fishkeepers, we may be witnessing one of the classics in the making, right up there with the works of Konings.
And from the few chapters I’ve been given a peek at so far, it instantly made me want to set up several Orinoco based biotope tanks, which is always a good sign!
But for now, visit Mikolji’s site and register your interest here.
