To start from the middle: These fish has not been bred in captivity [or at least, there's no record of successfull breeding - there is a small semantic difference]. If your goal is to breed them, I'd get three of the same variant - they are probably all the same species
, but they are looking slightly different in each variant and it's a good idea to keep the local variations going rather than to mix them up.
How long it takes to reach 1 foot depends on what size you start out with - which I'm sure you already knew - but they are fairly slow-growing.
They are most likely sexually mature before they reach "full size" [which is more than the 1 foot, by the way]. My guess would be that fish around 8-10" (TL) are sexually mature, maybe even slightly smaller. [But that is a GUESS].
They are somewhat territorial, especially as they mature - it almost certainly doesn't matter if they are the same variant or different variants - even completely different speceis are seen as intruders if they get close enough. Plenty of hiding-spaces so that they can find their own little niche/section will help against territorial disputes.
If you're planning to breed these, I'd start by breeding something "easier" than this species - since they haven't been bred yet, there's no "recipe" to breed along. However, if they are small, you may want to get them now and let them grow up a bit. Start with for example
so that you get some idea of bringing up the fry and such - the theory is the same for small and large plecos, it's just that the smaller ones being easier to breed, you don't have to wait another year for the next attempt if the first batch is killed by some mismanagement/misfortune...
There's a note in the Cat-eLog link above on sexing them by genital papillae, but I would say that "facial hare" (interopercular odontodes) is also a useful identification mark as long as they are large enough - at least it is on the smaller
Panaque spp., and I have seen pictures of large Panaque spp. that have big odontodes, and others that don't.
To breed the large panaques, I'd start with a BIG tank - something in the range 1500 liter/400 gal +. Lots of wood of different types, and a fair number of ceramic or bamboo pipes for breeding tunnels. Sudden drop in conductivity (hardness), more water motion (powerhead/filter) and temperature drop at the same time, followed by heavy feeding of protein-rich food as well as fresh vegetables (see my article linked in the footer of this post - mostly herbivore food) - some newly cut wood is probably a good idea too - we're simulating rainy season with trees falling into the water as a consequence of flooding/erosion of river-banks.
Continue this for a few weeks, and then gradually increase the temps back towards normal, keeping up the feeding and plenty of water changing.
That's a general "Pleco-breeding recipe", and it's by far not guaranteed to work - but it's a start until someone suggests something else...
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Mats
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