With 1311 pages of information, photos & diagrams all pertaining to the dwarf cichlids of South America, this has to be the most comprehensive book on these cichlids. The book is laid very well in having an identification key for not only Apistogramma but also for all other South American dwarf cichlid genera. The book then goes into the biology of dwarf cichlids including environmental factors that determine sex, choice of partners, genotypes & polychromatism.

Perhaps what I found most interesting in this section is that Apistogramma sex is determined by temperature. Since reading this in this book, a few people have questioned the methods used by Romer to conclude these findings (or so I have heard but I am no scientist) but perhaps this is not the complete answer. I do believe that this could be one of the factors in determining the sex of Apistogramma but it was also found that pH was a main factor in 3 species including Apistogramma borellii. In the end, the best way to keep Apistos is to provide them with a natural tank that mimics their environment in the wild, lots of frozen & live foods & water changes.

Lastly, Romer goes into great detail with the species descriptions of the various dwarf cichlid genera. Apistogramma species occupy over 700 of these pages with old & new species. With each species, as much information is provided as possible, this includes pictures of for the first time, males & females of every species presented. This allows the aquarist to match up males compared to that of possible females.

Needless to say, this is a must have book on South American dwarf cichlids. The worst part of this book is that it is already outdated. To help with this, Uwe Romer recently released Volume II to showcase the newest types of already existing species & newly described species. Eventually that book will be covered on this website once I find the time to read it.