Ceasarsmom

I have a Tiger Oscar, rescued. I have set him up in a 55 gallon tank. Hes been in about 5 days now. He was taken out of a 25 gal tank and is approx 3 1/2 inches long

He seems to be fine sometimes, and other times he hides among the mamy fake plants in the tank when we turn the light on, even occasionally laying on his side in a pit that he's dug for himself in the back corner. Is this normal behaviour? Am I worrying too much about something thats natural for this type of fish?

The light is a 30 watt, "Aquarium Glow" aquarium light, feeding pellets and freeze-dried shrimp and rarely with live guppies. Temp is kept @ 78 degrees.

I'm not familiar with the behaviour of tropical of fish. I have kept a 90 gal tank with Koi, giant snails, and freshwater clams for some time now and the Koi are ALWAYS active and moving. I'm not used to seeing a fish so "laid back".

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore ceasarsmom! is the tank cycled? and yes, alot of what you described is natural for them..they are shy at first, especially going from a 25 gallon to a 55...take him a bit to grow some more muscles LOL ..does he have other tank mates?? would love to see a pic of him ....id skip out on the live fish for food..hole in the head disease is very hard and a killer on them and bad feeders are a main cause for this.....unless you raise them yourself...mine get hikari pellets, then fresh raw shrimp that I put in my blender, and also blood worms...goodluck

Neville

Oscars often sulk or perform death mimicry when they r new to a tank, My tiger does not sulk that much now but after a huge water change he lays on his side, he is not afraid of lights either but at first he was!

Ceasarsmom

Yes the tank was cycled. He is coming out more now. I have added a large plant decoration that offers more cover below as well as some floating cover. he seems to love it we're still working on the light thing, he seems to be getting used to it now.

Thank you for your responses!