# What Do Rainbow Trouts Eat?

> What rainbow trouts eat: Carnivore — insects, crustaceans, and small fish, foraging style, and seasonal shifts in Cold rivers, lakes, and streams; anadromous steelhead in coastal rivers.

- **Species:** Rainbow Trout (*Oncorhynchus mykiss*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Carnivore — insects, crustaceans, and small fish
- **Habitat:** Cold rivers, lakes, and streams; anadromous steelhead in coastal rivers
- **Lifespan:** 4–11 years in the wild (varies by population)
- **Top speed:** Strong swimmer; leaps waterfalls during spawning runs
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/trout/what-do-trout-eat/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/trout/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

Rainbow trout are salmonid fish native to Pacific North America, named for the pink lateral stripe along silver sides. Stocked worldwide for sport fishing and aquaculture, they grow to 50 cm or more in rivers, leap at flies, and include steelhead populations that migrate to sea before returning to spawn.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a captive feeding plan from a veterinarian. This page is wild diet, not a pet-care sheet.

## Fly fishing icon

Rainbow trout rise to dry flies on the surface, making them the quintessential fly-fishing species. Clear mountain streams of the American West — Montana, Idaho, Colorado — built a global angling culture around wild rainbow and cutthroat trout.

## Help protect the Rainbow Trout

Ocean wildlife is under mounting pressure from overfishing, bycatch and plastic pollution.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/trout/what-do-trout-eat/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.