In the right environment, this species should live for four years. It seldom does, sadly, because aquarists fail to give it the correct environment.
The right environment means water with a GH and pH very close to that in which the fish was spawned and raised, and a warm temperature, 80F minimum. Wild caught fish need very soft and acidic water, but tank-raised fish have demonstrated a healthy lifespan when maintained in water approximating that in which they were spawned and raised, something which is rarely discernible unless one knows the breeder.
It is also highly sensitive to nitrate (like all cichlids, we now know) and any deterioration or fluctuations in water chemistry. Finding tankmates is somewhat challenging, as not all "tropical" species can manage in such warm water on a permanent basis.
When I last had this species, some 18 years ago now, I was uninformed about the temperature and it lived about two years. It is one of my aims with fish to acquire a bonded wild caught pair one of these days. My tap water is about as close to their habitat water as it can be, once the chlorine is dealt with.
More recently I had its cousin, the Bolivian Ram, Mikrogeophagus altispinosus, which has a similar lifespan of 4-5 years, but is fine with more normal tropical temperatures, around 76-77F. This species does very well in solitude; my male was nearing the end of his ninth year when he died, just over a year ago now. He was wild caught, and he must have been happy with things to have lived double the normal life expectancy.
