L260 and L333 growth

[Taratron]

I know it depends on diet and water changes, but overall, how many years does it take for a L260 and L333 to reach maturity? Would it be possible to keep juvies of each together in a growout tank, and for how long?

[apistomaster]

My L260 have bred at 2-1/2 years and I sell my L333 at about one year old. One of my last year's customers reported he had bred his L333 last March so they were probably very close to 18 months old. Most people will probably have to wait until they are between 2 and 2-1/2 years old.
L260 grow slowly. I think at the same rate as Zebra Plecos I've had. It seems to take me about 12 months to get them to 1-1/2". After that the L260 grow faster and are 3 inches when they are 2-1/2 years. Maybe they grow faster than Zebras but they seem very similar to me in every other respect. I think by 3 years, Zebras are capable of spawning but some people seem to have their first Zebra spawns at 4 or more years. I think that is longer than they potentially need to reach sexual maturity and may reflect more on how they are kept and the level of experience of the breeder.
Differences in husbandry and experience among the breeders will always influence different results for the different species.

[Lihn]

My group of L260 spawned for the first time, when they were around 2½ years old.
The fishes spawned without doing any special changes in the aquarium.

[Barbie]

Kevin Korotev spawned my first F1 L260 at 19 months. L333 grow much more quickly. I would have to guess the L333 would slow down the growth of the L260 if they had to compete much. I also tend to keep L260 warmer than L333, but that might just be what mine prefer ;).

Barbie

[Suckermouth]

Would it be possible to keep juvies of each together in a growout tank, and for how long?

I'm surprised Larry didn't answer this question. IIRC, his experience when he tried this was that the L333 heavily outcompeted the L260.

[apistomaster]

I would not try to raise L260 fry or H. zebra fry with any other species even if they each started off at the same age.
I made the mistake of putting 20 L260 fry in with same size L134. The L134 quickly over took the L260 in size and the L260 were too shy to be able to compete and I lost about half of the L260 by the time I realized what was going wrong.