that's a real bummer he died...as a side note, I special ordered mine 3 years ago. Took months to come in, literally, months. When he did come in, was a "cute" 2 inches at $45!!! Our lfs doesn't normally carry them anymore as they are steering away from the larger fish they said, not in demand anymore as people tend not to go bigger than a 125g. But, I guess it really does depend upon the location for how much you pay for the fish. I would order my fish from Snookn21, here on MFK and on Aquabid, but only when I need a bunch of fish as shipping can add up. Otherwise, I go on CL after visiting the lfs and re-evaluating whether that one fish I think I want is really worth that $$...but, with the rtc in my case, I was stuck...not available really in my area.
Hope you find another one at that crazy price, when you're ready and have many tanks for his fast growing needed for upgrading. I've NEVER seen a faster grower!!!! Only stayed in each of my tanks for no more than 3-4 months before got booted. Been living happily in the 265g now...but gonna get booted from that too...