Thanks Kien, I may take you up on that. I did try several different ways of trying to photograph him and I was hoping to use 1/125s shutter speeds but none of the details showed up (at best) or worse it was just way too underexposed to be of any use. The camera is a D70s and the lens is a 60mm Nikkor Micro lens, both of which I thought had pretty good reviews? At least in their day. An equipment upgrade is a total non option financially.
I could see maybe to a faster lens though (not sure if I'm using the term right .. "faster" as in "it lets in more light therefore you can use faster shutter speeds" and not "faster AF" or whatever), if there was a good option like that, I started to do some reading up on options but .. well, no sense in torturing myself either.
Maybe the trick is not to use a macro lens for fast swimming fish..
Frustrating!
@Brett - yeah, and the irony is I had tried the videos because the photos weren't working out. Although I liked doing the video it was sorta fun so might try a few more down the road.
@Scott - I agree, these fish just glowed when I saw them there. I was like .. WHAT is that fish? Nobody else seemed to think much of them when I was asking around but the way they flashed purples and reds .. I had to know what they were!!
I scoured the books and online and finally stumbled upon this site and that cinched the ID for me:
http://www.hawaiisfishes.com/fish_of.../fom_05_03.htm