Well...there are many aspects to taking a good photo, I'm sure Enigma and a few others will vouch for that. I would like to say first off, that in no way, am I a professional photographer, but from what I know, I am glad to share with others.
Firstly, the main thing is obviously good lighting is essential. I try to take my photos of my fish at night while the room light is off, leaving only the tank light.
It also depends on what kind of fish you are trying to capture. Fast moving fish like featherfins and cichlids will need a faster shutter speed, where as if you are photographing discus or "stagnant" catfish, it seems a bit easier. I'm not too great with manual settings, but someone else with experiece may assist us. I mainly use the Macro function. For those who are unfamiliar with the macro function - it is a function on the camera which suits the best for taking closeup shots of your selected object.
Cameras I use are: SOny Cybershot F-77 4.0MP and Sony Cybershot T3 5MP. Both are great cameras, but I find that the T3 is slightly more effective.
I generally don't use flash, as I feel that flash doesn't provide the final photo a sense of realism, but rather a washed out photo. That brings us back to the first point - good lighting. If you DO decide to use flash, take the shot from an angle from the glass, so to reflect the flash away from the lens.
You can generally get away without using editing software, but it does help. There are a few free programs out there on the net. Just Google for them. Photoshop, Imageready, Paintshop Pro will all do the job, but they come at a price.
HTHs
