[mattsilvester]

JAH,
That is what makes clown triggers so appealing - the "possibility" of them being a "gentle giant". Some folks would argue it is a case of when, and if he looses the rag....... but I think it is "if".
If it were the case that all were complete lunatics, and totally vicious, then it would be easy to say "beautiful but not feasible". And likewise, if they were easy to keep, and totally un-aggressive, then folks probably wouldn't be so attracted to them .....

Your brother has suceeded despite of its possible aggression, not because of it ...... he's been lucky, and chances are he'll stay lucky....

As to why he hasn't grown as quick as I ould expect..... don't know why.... some fish grow quicker than others..... but any experience I've had with these fish, and what I have seen and heard, and read about suggests they grow very quickly for the first 12 months, reasonably quick for the next 12, and then slowly for the remainder ......

Your brothers tank is probably quite a good system, but cannot be described as ideal for a fish over 6" long...... had the trigger been started at a couple of inches, been fed a good varied diet, in a stable lightly stocked system, with plenty of water changes etc, and no competition, and then been transferred to a bigger tank at the size of 6", then I bet he'd have grown alot faster.

I think the thing is, is that the original question here was "how quick will a clown trigger grow" ..... but the context was not entirely clear...... grow rate under ideal conditions, and growth rate under average conditions, and growth rate under poor conditions will be very different ...... I'd put your brothers system under "average" ..... I'd put my description under "ideal".... :-)

As far as aggression goes..... I honestly never thought I'd see a regal(hippo) tang go mental..... but mine did. After 4 years as the most peaceful, easy going fish, he literally turned into a demon over night..... hammering a pink tail ALOT bigger than him, a mac angel, and tore half the pectoral fins off my volitan...... not likely, and certainly not typical.......

HTH

Matt