Cecil Baird can provide info on this topic since he has some almost vertical sided small ponds. A little larger pond of 20x30 up to 50x50 will IMO work much better, although it will be interesting to see how it works at the 20x20size. Maximum depth of 5ft will mean almost vertical sides which are prone to sloughing and sliding. A 20 ft wide pond with 2:1 slope and a V bottom is 20ft wide. A V bottom will be very hard to seine in that area.
I think CJBS in his post above meant "paint roller pan design". You can't construct that shape at 20ft wide and 5ft deep unless you have essentially vertical or 1:1 slope sides. Not much space available for side slopes and a flat bottom with 4-5 ft of depth and 20 ft wide.
The pond can have 5 ft of hole depth but with about a foot of free board above the waterline and the average dry period water level,, expect about 4 ft of usual water depth. Depth of 4-5 ft in such a small pond will stratify at least long enough in mid-hot summer to cause DO depleation low water quality in the deep water. Suprising but true, due to very little surface area for wind exposure and 'hopefully' low visibility water. Also a relatively high ratio of deep water to surface area can cause water quality issues when the pond periodically naturally destratifies. Monitor for it, and plan to have minimal aeration for destratification, mixing and maintaining better water quality for large numbers of fish per ac. Shallower water than 5ft will be less prone to stratificaition.
A shallow pond as you are planning will have significant submerged weed and filamentous algae issues. Plan for them and how to deal with or minimize them. Fertilizing and feeding ground feed would be a good idea IMO.
Annual draining and drying during winter even if it in every other year is a good thing. Production fish hatcheries do this and they are not dumb. Periodic draining and drying of bottom sediments minimizes a LOT of problems in the small shallow ponds.
GSH brood stock density would IMO be adequate at around 25 to 40 in a 400sqft pond. A healthy larger female can produce 8000-10000 eggs/season. I estimate this small 400 sqft pond if managed really well will grow about 8 to 10 lbs of shiners (~2500 @ 2"). Keep good records and keep us inforned on your progress. We can learn from your efforts. It will be very interesting to see how many pounds of shiners you can grow in 20'X20'.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/15/11 10:41 AM.
