I had one for like 2.5 years. It was a basic one, nothing fancy but he was pretty awesome. Named him Bob and he was with me thru 3 tank transfers. From what I hear from LFS's is that they dont last long usually due to filtration eating them up. You have to cover your powerheads and anything that can hurt them cause they move around quite a bit. lol Mine never inked my tank, even when i touched him to move him. One day Bob just didn't come out and was never seen again. I had no nuking of my tank when he died either. He was a great critter and I feel I got alot out of him since he was so neat and lasted so long for me. Your mileage may vary tho, not many people can keep them more than a few months.