Does camera flash light stress fish?

I'm sure it does, but my fish don't seem to have a problem right after I have taken the picture.

depends on the fish....and how much you flash your fish.

i can take pics of my plecos without them reacting much at all. If anything they may be temporarily blinded, but it wouldn't be any different than blinding them by shining a flashlight into the tank right? so it would stress them out as much as light does in general...

well all true except...

i have dwarf honey gouramis, I've only tried taking their pic once. The first time i tried, it sent my little gourami swimming like a mad-fish from hell bouncing into the walls and plants..it went crazy! I'm sure anything to make a fish jump like that isn't healthy for the fish when it reacts like that!


sooo there isn't really a right or wrong answer

Yeah, my Pleco will sit and pose for the camera but if I open the top of the tank he'll suddenly go away and hide. They're silly like that.

When I take pictures of my tank and fish I never use the flash. I turn the flash off since the light from the flash would reflect and create over exposed pictures. If I had to use the flash (due to lack of enough of light) I would angle my camera my so that the light wouldn’t reflect straight back at the camera rather at angle and away.
In this manner, you photos come out great and also place less stress on fish since the more than 80% of the light is reflected away.
Another great way to take good picture of you fishes is to use a telephoto lens (if you have one) and placing you camera as far away as possible then using the telephoto lens to get a close up.

Rohn