Twilight,
Sorry to hear you had such bad luck with them. My mother lost a couple of them before she got everything right. Due to the fact that this species is exclusively wild-caught, really healthy individuals are a little hard to come by. You are right, though. They aren't for everyone. They almost always require a little tlc and attention, after all, they are shipped in from Africa and sometimes have gone up to a week without food or proper living conditions, only to be bought by lfs's that don't know how to handle them properly...
If they are the fish for you, however, they are really great.