I have one now, and I had three in the past (which I lost to a random breaker blowing in the middle of the night
. We never found the cause). The first three were no more than 4-5 inches when I first got them, and grew to 7-8" before we lost them. This last one is about 8". Anyways, they all took well to defrosted krill, chunks of market shrimp, and red wrigglers. All grew very well and were very healthy. We have never relied on just blood worms for these guys, as I highly doubt they could really eat enough of them to grow well.
I have successfully kept my fish in the following parameters (obviously minus the messed up wiring fiasco):
-pH: 6.5-6.8 I have a lot of S. American fish and a little lower pH seems to help keep away illnesses
-temp: anywhere between 78-82. This is on quite the high side of things for them, but they have adapted well to it, as there is a lot of water flow in the tank to keep the oxygen levels up at these higher temps.
-Hardness: I keep my fish in a mix of tap and R/O water. I shoot for about 8-11 degrees hardness (conversion to parts per million for aquarium pharmaceuticals: 1°dGH = 17.9 ppm GH)
-water quality: I have heard that these guys suffer a lot from poor water quality, so lots of filtration and frequent water changes. I keep my nitrates very low using plants and water changes...
Behaviorly:
The small specimens have a tendency to swim up against the side of the wall of the tank, especially when there was a nice water current to swim against. Also, they are passive fish that easy were bullied out of a hiding spot, and they seem to really like their privacy. As they got bigger, they started hanging out on the bottom, and were a little bit better about defending themselves, but still not ones to win any battles. This same behavior meant that they were easily out competed for food, and in a community tank, were not going to get to eat unless there was a lot of effort to direct food directly to them. Even at that, at first a lot went staight by them. This meant a lot of food going into the tank. So either a fish clean up crew is necessary, or be prepared to over feed and then remove the extra chunks. Within a couple weeks, they all caught on and were on it. Eventually all were hand feeding, and that really helped.
So, that's my experience. I'd love to see some pictures!
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I look forward to pix. and awesome advice wetwiskers