Rescued an Oscar, now what?

[JDogg]

well one of my students was telling me about how her step mom was threatening to throw their oscar into a snow bank, as it was beating up their other fish. since i had an empty 45 laying around i agreed to give it a new home as a classroom pet.

the thing is about 6 inches long, and shy as can be. if anyone gets near the tank it "plays dead". i under stand this is normal for oscars (i have never kept an oscar before, but this is what i have read). to be honest i am getting sick of kids alway telling me my fish is dead, and asking if they can poke it, or banging on the glass:censor:

any suggesting on how to make it more comfortable? dither fish was a thought, but since she feed it almost exclusivly live feeder goldfish, i am afraid it will view any other fish as food. not to metion the 45 is not realy big enough for any other fish.

i realy had not interest in an oscar, but i just could not let her put him in the snow

 

[QTOFFER]

From what I've read about oscars, he's probably in a funk over the recent move. They are highly intelligent fish and your oscar also probably misses the other fish that he was beating up. He'll get over it in a few days as he gets used to the new surroundings. Give him some caves to hang out in and some plastic plants to dig up and toss around.