I do not grade fish for pond stocking, yet try to keep the vast majority of fish in the 1/3 pound or 8-9" range. No grading as small fish are sacrificial and take pressure off the larger tilapia to acclimate to the new surroundings (sacrificial stockers will be less than 2 pounds per 40#).
Any fish not directly eaten by predator fish when lethargic will sink or float and be completely consumed by scavenging...turtles, BG, CC, Fox, opossum, raccoon, etc.
If all 40# stocked were at the 1/3 pound size, or 120 fish, nearly all stockers would top 2 pounds at season end...roughly 240 pounds of tilapia...the first spawn surviving could easily add another 1000 pounds of tilapia too large to be consumed alive. We have not found evidence of dead tilapia on pond bottoms or even seen many floaters...I may not be able to say what, yet, but something sure eats a lot!
