Is Flash Photography Safe for Aquarium Fish?

Why do public aquariums prohibit flash photography of their tanks? It turns out, it might be more for your benefit than for the animals - but no long term studies have been done. There is one study from 2019 which looked at the impact of flash photography on seahorses and other similar cryptic fish in saltwater aquariums - they found little impact unless you're using a very powerful flash way stronger than what you might find in a cell phone or built into a camera. Even then, the very powerful flashes startled the animals, but didn't interfere with hunting so as long as you're not constantly subjecting them to photographic flashes every day (like in a public aquarium or at a popular dive spot) they're probably ok.

When you're photographing fish and coral in your reef tank, you probably don't even need to use a flash as our tank's lights are probably bright enough already to use a fast shutter speed and freeze movement. For video, you don't really need a fast shutter speed anyway - I record most of my videos at 25 or 30 frames per second. Where a flash can be useful though is in underwater SCUBA photography - wild coral reefs don't have Radions or Hydra lights filling them with light, and of course a cloud will go over at just the wrong time - so in the wild, a flash is more important. It's nice to know that, as long as you don't actually move the animals to get a better photo, they're pretty unaffected by the flash itself.

Pick up a cheap silicone lens hood for your favorite lens off Amazon or a similar store - they're super cheap and immediately solve reflections off the aquarium glass.

De Brauwer, M., Gordon, L.M., Shalders, T.C. et al.
Behavioural and pathomorphological impacts of flash photography on benthic fishes.

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[vikmanphotography]

Actually very helpful. Thanks!
Had a request to photograph various fish in glass kitchenware (yes, I realize how weird that sounds)

[aki_in_las_vegas]

Great job Reefman! Those poor sea horses though :/