Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose fish cages

Rowly - HSB in a cage. I did this several times, the first time I started with 6"-7" fish (May) and they were 11"-12" by October. Last batch in a cage was 2 yrs ago (spring 2003). Started with 12 fish (4") in a slightly bigger than barrel sized cage. By 1st fall they were around 8". Stayed in cage all winter and this summer and by fall 2004, they were 12"-13". Lost one fish. Did not feed intensively but never had to clean the cage once. The HSB cage batch before the 2003 crop was also in the cage for 2 yrs but they grew to 14". Some of them figured how to jump out of the low riding cage.

I have a couple of cages built of each mesh size from 1/8" to 3/4" mesh. I use the largest mesh possible for the size of fish stocked for the reasons given by Cecil below.