i just got my oscar 2 days ago. hes about 1 1/2- 2 inches. when i drop some pellets in he usually wont go up and get them. he waits for them to get pushed down by the water coming out of the filter. but when he does get them he chews them up and spits them right back out. what could be the reason for this.

He also hides alot

this is pretty natural remember the process of buying a fish.. then it being bagged up and added to new water in your tank that its not used to and its a new environment with different lighting causes alot of stress for the fish.

Just give it some time to settle in and grow a little.
Try feeding it a few bloodworms or some small bits of chopped earth worm usualy does the trick he will soon be munching the pellets when he is on a growing spree.

thanks. makes me feel alil bit more comfortable. just before i read your reply i did try and feed him some bloodworms..wasnt interested but hopefully in due time he will snap out of it

Is your tank cycled Hun?

yes it is

Good.. Do you mind me asking for your water readings for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and PH?

idk if this is the same but my o eats a pellet chews it up and spits chunks out through his gill slots

Matt E. fish lover wrote:

Nope, when expelling food from the gill plates the oscar is chewing and swallowing the food.
Spitting the food out is a different thing.
Ask what he was fed in the LFS, that may help.
Mealworms worked best to get my oscar eating, allthough bloodworms were a good treat as well.
Any live bloodworms may do the trick, if you have tried frozen ones before.

new tank syndrome! it is normal for an oscar not to take foods
for a few days after bagging.... stress, new environment, and
maybe new foods..... give them sometime and they will cope
with it....just make sure you have a cycled tank.... if not
that is additional factor....

An Oscar introduced to a new tank often hides and eat. I wouldnt worry about it just yet. We had one poster whose oscar took 2 weeks to eat. You can try him on different foods- have a look on the home page for various foods to feed to oscars