Convincing a Purely Feeder Eater to Convert

[Abraxas]

I purchased a rather large oscar yesterday and was informed that the previous owner had fed him only feeder fish. Apparently, his feeder diet has made him quite picky, or so the store owner has said. I've already gotten a few tips (trying silversides, earthworms, crickets...), but I was wondering if anyone had any other advice or experiences in converting a picky oscar from feeders to other types of food. I've had quite a few oscars, but I've never had a picky eater before. I probably could have thrown a license plate in there and they would have at least tried to take a bite...

Thanks!

c:

 

[Abraxas]

I don't mean to add onto this topic, but I figure if I already have it up, I might as well not clog up the forum with another thread.

Back in the fish store, he seemed to be a very nervous fish and would occasionally dance about the small tank. One of the employees told me that he did this 'dance' quite often. The oscar didn't have a whole lot of room to move, so I wasn't so sure what he was doing. Now that I've got him into my tank and he has plenty of room to move about, he's starting to concern me.

He'll go through these weird 'panic attacks' several times a day, lasting anywhere from 1-15 minutes and occuring usually every few hours. When he starts, he looks around the tank as though he's paranoid or seeing rapid movements around him. He'll twirl around in circles, like he's trying to see everything around him. During this or after, he'll start tail-slapping, flaring, charging, and bitting at invisible enemies (or food, not sure). This usually ends up with him 'snapping out of it' and staring blankly at the wall.

Is this normal and is there anything I can do to keep him from hurting himself?

 

[Morcs]

Oscars are strange tempermental creatures. Almost like women.

As long as they are moving I think they are ok.

Oh and you might want to starve him for a few days then feed him some pellets, he will eventually eat them as oscars looooove eating

 

[Abraxas]

lol. Thank you for the help. I suppose that'll be effective in convincing him to eat, but he's not going to be too pleased. x3