I will reccomend a Canon powershot S3 and it is right in your price range $249 shipped. I have the Powershot S2 and have taken about 15,000 pictures with it and has been a great camera just upgraded to a 30D though. The S3 is essentially the same camera with a few extra bells and whistles but for an extra $70 you could get the Powershot S5 which is a much better camera. These cameras are probably some of the most versital P&S cameras around since it has a 12x optical zoom so you can zoom in on your subject when your outside, then walk inside and take macro pics of your tank at about 3" from the end of the lens without changing lenses or using a different camera. I can post some pics if you would like to see some from the S2.