Although a slightly different critter, we have about three pots of aloe, all from the same shoot, that are about 20 years old now. We were quite disappointed with the growth rate at first, until the friend who gave us the original suggested we move them to a place where we'd forget to water them.

When we cut back the water to about three times per year they became so prolific that we were having "fresh tomato problems" (i.e. not enough friends to foist the product on) so we cut back to watering about once per year, or maybe every other year.

They're quite healthy now, and we're not overrun with an excess of new offshoots.

Although over watering is quite definitely the most common cause of "poor performance" for many cacti, it's not so much (IMO) the amount of water as the need for the roots to dry out quite completely between waterings. Many of the most showy "true desert" cacti have very shallow roots, since the water when it does rain runs off before it penetrates more than a very few inches (or fractions of an inch). If the roots aren't pretty well dried out when the next rain starts, they don't "receive" the moisture well and pass it on to the body of the cactus. It's just retained in/around the roots, and often causes them to rot.

In a small/deep pot, the roots may have been forced to grow down into soil that retains moisture longer. In the desert the "wet stuff" at the surface doesn't last long at all, and the shallow roots dry out quickly. With deeper roots the soil in the pot may stay wet enough to harm the roots for quite a while between waterings, even after the surface dirt is at the "crumble" stage when you'd think the plant just has to be ready for water.

Note that the above is based on quite personal observation during some years of living (in a former life) with one who had the uncanny ability to KILL WITHIN DAYS almost anything with thorns, spines, prickles, or burrs - unless it grew in the ditch out back where I had to mow it.

John