The camera is only a tool for the most part, please don't blame it all on the camera!
They are out of focus which can be down to user error, too low level of light, shutter setting, shooting through extra thick glass (fish tank) and of course, as you pointed out, if the fish move fast, it's harder to focus quick.
It might be several things, but it's seems that for many of these the focus is not right. Take the last one, the gravel at the bottom/behind the fish is in focus, whereas the fish is not.
You could try to focus manually, and/or use a larger f-number (smaller aperture opening for greater depth of field).
I am no expert and I rarely use the manual settings on my camera (same as yours). I have very bad eyes and can't focus worth a darn, so I use the autofocus almost always. But, what I have found in trying to take close up pictures with detail is to use a longer lens. I have a Tamron lens now that goes from 18-280, and I know that I would be taking these on 280 (long lens) and standing a couple feet away. If you are trying to get the fish in focus and good bokeh, but the fish is moving, then I would try settings other than macro. Macro really works best (I thjink) if the object is not moving (like a flower). I would use the sports setting and try that with autofocus and use a longer lens. Hope this helps.
HI Angie! Welcome to the world of a DSLR. I'd suggest that the shutter is too slow for the moving fish, contributing to the blur. In natural light I would suggest that you would want a shutter speed of 1/200 or more to freeze the faster moving fish this close. But you won't be able to get that in this light I think with your camera and the 18-55 lens. Break out the flash and try that, but you may get nasty reflection from the front glass with the flash firing directly along the axis of the lens.
Can you bring in extra light? Move a table lamp, use a reflecting surface to push the light onto the tank.
And of course, watch the focus. Make sure the focus point is right on the fish, lock the focus with the shutter half press and then fire quickly after that so the fish don't have time to move back or forward. I would suggest the Manual focus will not be much use with the moving fish this close.
I shoot at eh aqaurium a lot. I shoot on M--f5.6, 200-250 shutter speed, 35mm lens, auto ISO, auto WB. When not using flash you should consider adjusting EV up. When using flash, tilt the flash head at 45 degrees with a softbox on it. It is essential that you use a circular polarizing filter.
Three elements to overcome are--glas, moving water, and moving fish.
One point is that when taking pictures through glass it pays to have the camera right on it as it reduces reflections.
I think I have the same camera. Autofocus is fine but switch to alservo so you have continuous focusing and manually select the focus point using the blue cross button as ensure that point stays on the fish.
Shutter speed and ISO needs to be set so your shutter speed is not less then 1/250.
Lots of suggestions here. You have a wonderful camera capable of taking amazing photos. So why are yours not turning out the way you had hoped? Photos are all about light and composition. Composition is the layout of the subjects you are shooting in the image. There are many tutuorials online that discuss basic rules of composition, like the rule of thirds, but composition is something that you should always be learning and experimenting with.
Light is the other half of photography. This is where the lighting on your subjects, and the camera settings come into play. I would HIGHLY suggest learning about the exposure triangle. Then experiment with different settings yourself to see how things change. I switched to using manual mode most of the time very quickly because I have control, not the camera. As you learn, I would suggest starting out with most settings on auto. And really only focus on one setting at a time, then add more as you progress. So if your images are blurry from poor focus, and you want to master focusing, I suggest using p mode, auto ISO, auto everything, and select your focus point manually. This lets the camera do all the thinking for you except for the focus point. You choose what point the camera uses to focus on and you can experiment with different focus modes. I think single shot focus might be your best bet if the fish aren't moving around that much, but experiment with that and servo AF to see how they are different. If you are getting camera shake causing blurry images, then switch to Tv. Tv is time value and sets the shutter speed of the camera while it chooses most of the other settings. So you can set a shutter speed of no less than 1.6 x the focal length of your lens to reduce camera shake blur. So with a 50 mm lens, you should be using a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second or faster.
Finally, a fish tank is a very difficult thing to shoot through. The water, the glass, reflections, refraction, moving subjects, and poor lighting can make it difficult to get a good picture. Try other subjects as well so you can learn how to use your camera.
On a final note, every professional photo you have ever seen has been edited after the fact in some way. Professional photographers edit their images for color, exposure, contrast, etc. So while they are capturing amazing images in the camera, they also know how to make then pop how they want in Lightroom or in the past in darkrooms. So keep trying, keep learning, keep experimenting.
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They are out of focus which can be down to user error, too low level of light, shutter setting, shooting through extra thick glass (fish tank) and of course, as you pointed out, if the fish move fast, it's harder to focus quick.
You could try to focus manually, and/or use a larger f-number (smaller aperture opening for greater depth of field).
Can you bring in extra light? Move a table lamp, use a reflecting surface to push the light onto the tank.
And of course, watch the focus. Make sure the focus point is right on the fish, lock the focus with the shutter half press and then fire quickly after that so the fish don't have time to move back or forward. I would suggest the Manual focus will not be much use with the moving fish this close.
Best of luck.
Three elements to overcome are--glas, moving water, and moving fish.
I think I have the same camera. Autofocus is fine but switch to alservo so you have continuous focusing and manually select the focus point using the blue cross button as ensure that point stays on the fish.
Shutter speed and ISO needs to be set so your shutter speed is not less then 1/250.
This should help. Rest is practise
Light is the other half of photography. This is where the lighting on your subjects, and the camera settings come into play. I would HIGHLY suggest learning about the exposure triangle. Then experiment with different settings yourself to see how things change. I switched to using manual mode most of the time very quickly because I have control, not the camera. As you learn, I would suggest starting out with most settings on auto. And really only focus on one setting at a time, then add more as you progress. So if your images are blurry from poor focus, and you want to master focusing, I suggest using p mode, auto ISO, auto everything, and select your focus point manually. This lets the camera do all the thinking for you except for the focus point. You choose what point the camera uses to focus on and you can experiment with different focus modes. I think single shot focus might be your best bet if the fish aren't moving around that much, but experiment with that and servo AF to see how they are different. If you are getting camera shake causing blurry images, then switch to Tv. Tv is time value and sets the shutter speed of the camera while it chooses most of the other settings. So you can set a shutter speed of no less than 1.6 x the focal length of your lens to reduce camera shake blur. So with a 50 mm lens, you should be using a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second or faster.
Finally, a fish tank is a very difficult thing to shoot through. The water, the glass, reflections, refraction, moving subjects, and poor lighting can make it difficult to get a good picture. Try other subjects as well so you can learn how to use your camera.
On a final note, every professional photo you have ever seen has been edited after the fact in some way. Professional photographers edit their images for color, exposure, contrast, etc. So while they are capturing amazing images in the camera, they also know how to make then pop how they want in Lightroom or in the past in darkrooms. So keep trying, keep learning, keep experimenting.