Moving a blind fish out of a big community tank, how to make his new home less stressful?

[lilimay65]

Hi!
I have recently been charged with taking a little black moor from my work's community tank home with me because he has no eyes (not just blind, literally has no eyeballs from birth as far as anyone knows) and is very stressed in such a big tank with so many other bigger fish. I know at least enough about taking care of fish to keep the average seeing fish healthy and happy, but I want to make sure that this guy is living his best possible life in his new tank. I have an 8.8gallon cube tank (I know this is small for the average goldfish, but this is a very defunct little dude and even in a big tank does not like to travel more than a few inches outside of his favorite plant anyways), a gentle filter so the water isn't too disturbed, two small java ferns and two small anubias for my own personal aesthetic reasons as well as trying to replicate a little bit of his comfort zones in his old tank, and a tiny decorative mushroom house. A guy at my local fish store said that a couple small plants will be nice, as long as they're nothing he'll try to eat all the time and I keep them from overgrowing (he's who recommended java fern and anubias), and that the driftwood and house will also be totally fine since he still has enough room to swim for as much as he is likely to because he's so small and so blind, but my coworker who takes care of the community tank has told me that I should have a completely empty tank so nothing gets in his way and once there aren't any other fish around he won't need anywhere to hide. Both of these sources are at the very least reliable enough that I know they're not steering me down a deadly path, but since I've never had to take care of a eyeball-less fish before I'm not sure what parts of an environment are helpful or hurtful in this situation. Any thoughts/advice?

 

[Coinzmans reef]

Add the decorations fish need a place to hide when they sleep. A feeding tube may be helpful so he is not aimlessly swimming around trying to eat food he cant find. (turn off filter while feeding)

 

[Timfish]

I would definitely try to set up a larger tank, it may be stunted but it likely still has the capacity to grow bigger provided the proper environment. Keep in mind t has it's lateral lines to tell it where stuff is in it's environment and to be able to sense where it's at. If it's the only fish I would expect it to be swimming pretty much everywhere and I would provide some large hollow ornaments for it to hide in.