The water depth for spawning structure for the FHM is fine... As long as they have a couple inches of water over their heads, they'll be happy. So anything from about 6" to 18" depth should be good for them.
GSH and banded killies spawn in similar ways. They lay their adhesive eggs on aquatic vegetation, filamentous algae and sometimes submerged woody and other structure. Almost any pond will have at least moderate amounts of spawning structure for GSH or banded killies. Do a search on the forum and look for threads on GSH artificial spawning structure. There are some good ideas on here so if you feel your pond won't have enough you can consider those options...
Also, I just stocked two ponds with PK grass shrimp. Grass shrimp are an excellent forage for sunfish and small bass. Now is the best time to stock them before you get predatory fish in your pond. TJ, is about to make another order and you maybe able to split the order with him to help cut down on the cost of them. Check out his post on the building a food chain sub forum if interested...
Most pond owners don't want CC spawning in their ponds. So they try to prevent it by leaving spawning structure out. This is so they can closely control the CC population. CC are one of the cheaper fish to buy and easiest to source and stock. If you want to have a self reproducing CC population, then the addition of structure like flu liners, large PVC pipes, 5 gallon buckets etc with one end blocked off will work. 3' to 4' of water seems to be a good depth.
Late September to early October would be a good time to stock in the fall. Late April or early May would be a good time for the LMB and CC. You should be able to source small fingerling bass by that time.
Aeration would be a smart idea in my opinion. I am far from an expert on that subject though. You may want to consider a separate post in the Aeration forum describing the details of your pond and what your concerns are... You should get some good help as there are a number of companies who post on here who are supporters of Pond Boss and know their stuff when it comes to aeration. Nothing wrong with not feeding, all the more reason to build a good natural food chain though.
Pond management can be very addictive! Stocking fish from the wild has its risks, however some species such as chain pickerel can only be sourced from wild stock, so their is no other alternative...
