I have been raising a pair of Oscar's since September. LaQuanda died about two weeks ago. Ever since, Phyllis, her companion, has acted VERY depressed. It has gotten to the point where she won't even eat the feeder fish she used to flourish on. Eating altogether isn't as exciting for her as it used to be. She sulks around, generally hiding behind our largest ornament. Any suggestions??? Would getting her another compaion (but much smaller than herself) help???

That could be rather iffy......I mean that by now, your oscar sees the tank as hers....any new fish not big enough to eat might be viewed as a rival. What you might consider doing is using a tank divider to keep the new fish separated from the old one. After a few weeks you should be able to tell if they are going to get along, or at the very least you can remove the divider and if the fighting gets too bad you can always separate them again.
Do you know why your other oscar died? Do you ever feed your fish things other than feeder fish? (because feeders can carry so many diseases!!)

i think you need to find out why your other one died, oscars usually live around ten years, but you shouldnt be feeding a diet of just feeder fish, as they dont fulfil a ranged diet that the oscar and most big cichlids need.

feeder fish should be a rare treat, maybe once or twice a week.

let us know about the one that died, and we will see what we can do.

I feed regular flake food twice a day, pellet food once a day, frozen blood worms once a day, and feeders about every other day. Occasionally we'll treat them to some dried Crill, but not too often. LaQuanda had a habbit of eating rocks...? Perhaps that's what killed her. When found, she was lying side down on the bottom of the tank, with a large buldge on her side.