in my experience, oscar become mature 10 months after i got them
but i do not know how long they have been in the local fish store.
in that ten months, they had grown to 12 inches long (from original
size of 1.5 inches as juvenile)
but my latest oscar that i have now matured at 14 months under my
care. considering the time they stay at lfs, i assumed them to be
16 months old.
symptoms of maturing oscar: lip locking; moving substrate; establish
territorial area; cleaning slate or bottom glass if no slate available.
two days before spawning, they will never take any foods.