I respect your opinion totally, but disagree. They are hardy little buggers, more so in my opinion than their larger counterparts. While they may be small, having a 10 gallon with 20 - 25 adults, someone is usually doing something. Plus, you learn to recognize most of them for their markings and some really have stand out personalities. At feeding times, they are usually active little hunters snicking their brine. Because they breed so easily, there is almost always a mating dance going on and watching the births never gets old.
With all the losses happening in the big horses, it's refreshing to have these guys live out their entire life cycles in your tanks (granted they are much shorter). They breed very readily and the young hitch and feed on bbs from birth and have high survival rates.
After having both over the years, I find the dwarfs to be easier overall.
Hatching the brine can seem intimidating but with a setup costing next to nothing and a dedicated small space, it's a piece of cake. I hatch two batches a day right now. My excess goes to my corals or I can trade it at my lfs. My son loves "sea monkey" duty.
Like anything else, you have to be aware of your tank. Aiptasia must be diligently killed because they will kill the ponies.
I always start off a sterile system for these guys. I do daily top offs, run a skimmer, and change a small amount of water, usually .5 gallon to a gallon every two days. I could stretch the water changes much further, I just like to keep my system ahead of the game and find they thrive in the cleaner waters.
I guess you weren't here then....I had 2....Bigun and Skinny.....Bigun got sick and I had to put him in a HT...well let's just say after an EXTREMELY stressful 30 days...I lost him....and shortly after I woke up to find Skinny dead
