New Aquarium, Fish Waste And Handling

[Kriv]

Been away from the fish scene for sometime, however I'm back and ready to go.

I prepaired a tank for the last week, dechlorinated water etc and all is going well (PH tests etc all good etc. Introduced fish 24 hours ago, four fantails.

Firstly, I need to make some asthetic changes to the tank, I want to bed in a plant that has been in there for a week. How long yould you leave it to dip your hand in the tank, don't want to scare the little fisheys after their recent "transportation" stress.

Secondly, their poop. Firstly this came out white, I figured the poor fellas hadn't been fed and this was normal, and yes it turned to brown / black poop. Now however it's gone purple. Is this OK? Perhaps a change in their diet? Feeding them fish flakes at the moment is that makes any difference.

Other than that the fish seem healthy & active. Worried about one of them as he has the facination of tasting the other fishes poop, but I'm sure he'll grow out of it.

 

[black angel]

How big is your tank? For four fantails the minimum size is 40 gallons while they are still babies. Which filter are you using?
Poo is the same colour as the food, so maybe theres a few purple bit in their? If there are then I would change to a more natural coloured flake. I would say to change from flake to a sinking pellet anyway as flaked food causes swimbladder issues. You can give them squashed cooked peas as well to give more fibre and a weekly feed of bloodworm for protein.
Adding fish to an uncycled tank will cause a lot of stress, especially in a small tank. Have you got test lits to keep an eye on levels as the filter matures?

 

[Kriv]

How big is your tank? For four fantails the minimum size is 40 gallons while they are still babies. Which filter are you using?
Poo is the same colour as the food, so maybe theres a few purple bit in their? If there are then I would change to a more natural coloured flake. I would say to change from flake to a sinking pellet anyway as flaked food causes swimbladder issues. You can give them squashed cooked peas as well to give more fibre and a weekly feed of bloodworm for protein.
Adding fish to an uncycled tank will cause a lot of stress, especially in a small tank. Have you got test lits to keep an eye on levels as the filter matures?

55 Gallon tank - for the time being.
Filter not too sure of the make and the model, but it can do up to a 60 Gallon tank
Fish food, now you mention it yeah, unusually large number of purple flakes, didn't twig. With regards to diet I'll be giving a mixture of different foods once they're fully settled in as I didn't want to give them too much of a shock so quickly.
At present water is being tested daily and levels are all ok.