The first topic is the topic of ISO (sensor speed). To take a photo as quickly as you can without using a flash, one could bump the ISO on the camera to 800 or higher. This allows the camera to "build" the photo in the digital sensor (or even in a film camera) 8 times as fast. Therefore, a flash isn't needed if there is a good deal of light on the subject.  A higher ISO means the shutter can open and shut much faster, thus reducing blur of the subject. The faster the shutter goes, the less blur. High ISO is good for shooting indoors regardless of what you are shooting. Eliminating glare here is the purpose of photographing with a high ISO speed, and you are guaranteed a reflection if there is a flash in front of the glass, so avoid putting one there at all cost. The downside of a high ISO speed is there may be some graininess (also called noise) to the photo. So be careful to try to balance ISO to graininess.

Lighting is crucial when taking any photograph, anywhere, at any time. There is such a thing as "temperature" of light. One should always strive to represent, and capture the true color quality of the fish. Light plays the most important part in this. Some lights will "color" the light by the virtue of its temperature, meaning how white the light is. The higher the temperature, the closer to white the light is. Incandescent bulbs give low temperature light, which is reddish-orange in hue. Florescent is medium temperature, and gives off a green hue. Finally, compact florescent and halogen lights are high temperature, and their light is colored with a blue hue. In each circumstance, one has to either do something to neutralize the light by cancelling out the hue with its "opposing" color, or correct it on the computer. Correcting this yourself can be done by bouncing the light off of a surface (such as cardboard or paper) of the opposing color. Using a "gel" on the light or flash is how professional photographers do it.  Red is balanced by cyan, green is balanced by magenta, and blue is balanced by yellow. A balanced combination of all three of these "channels" gives an accurate representation of the subject with white light (also known as "white balance"). One can use the computer to correct photos, and most graphics programs have an auto feature to balance the photo.

Check your camera for a remote control feature. If you can use a remote control, you won't have to be anywhere near the aquarium when the photo is snapped."  Bob mentioned wilds sometimes will not mate, and can lose their color if they sense you are close to them. Dick said it might be a good idea to set up the camera and lighting, and then leave it for several hours if not a day to allow them to get used to it being there. Then, when ready, release the shutter from afar with a remote control. The only issue with this approach is the camera battery will not survive this long, so at some point, you are going to have to sneak up on the camera to turn it on without them noticing you. Keeping all other lights in the room turned off may allow you to do this, and should be done regardless in order to reduce reflection, and to avoid altering the light's color when it bounces off walls which aren't "insane asylum white." ;-)

The last topic we discussed is light placement and setup. Most weighed in on this because there are many ways to approach setup, and everyone has done it differently in the past. Bob was more interested in shooting his whole aquarium, while Dick was more interested in shooting fish for purposes of posting online. My advice  is to always use two light sources, three if you can swing it. Have one coming in from each side, either from the sides of the aquarium, or from up above on the far left and right edges of the aquarium. This will cause cross-lighting and help eliminate shadow, which can ruin the "tack sharpness" of the subject. Dick mentioned it might be necessary to photograph the underside of the fish for purposes of identifying breed or gender. Cross-light from below if this is the case. The third light would be pointed at whatever the background is, not the subject. Do this in order to eliminate shadow on the background.

So, now you have the summary version of my presentation. I hope it helped everyone!

Bradley