What size of trout should be stocked?
This depends upon your preferences and your plans. Smaller trout cost less, but take longer to reach large size. Under optimal conditions, a rainbow trout can grow as much as one inch per month, but usually much less than that. If your trout grow a total of six inches per year, they are growing very well. It is not recommended to stock trout smaller than 3 inches in length, because their mortality rate in a pond is very high at that stage of life. Stocking a pond with different sized trout can also result in losses of the smaller trout. Trout are carnivores and will eat other fish (including other trout) if the other fish are small enough. The rule of thumb in a trout hatchery situation (where fish densities are relatively high and there is no place to hide for the smaller trout) is to never have a trout less than half the length of another trout in the same tank. In a simple small pond, that hatchery rule of thumb should probably be followed. The larger the pond and the more places in
