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Yeah, A. aculeatus live fast and die young. When you buy a mature animal, they rarely last more that a couple of months at the most. Males that have not mated may last a bit longer, but many will have already mated in the wild.
We really don't have good data on how long they live in the wild, but I received a juvenile female (1.5 cm mantle length) late last summer. She is not nearly full grown and has mated a few times in the lab, so I'm expecting eggs any time. That would put the life span at under a year (with lots of food and sex).
This is a great species to keep - hardy, day active, lots of color and texture - but they almost always are collected and sold as mature adults. Too bad they can't be cultured. Then people could buy juveniles and get their money's worth.
Roy
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