Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations folks with less than 1/2 acre ponds........

Im fixin to build a pond and will be using the dirt to build up my lot. The lot is 1.7 acres and the pond will be about .3 acres. I was looking or comments and suggestions on the design, shape and what kind of fish to put in here, being it a small pond. What kind of problems should expect with a pond this size? Aeriator? I also want it to be asthetically pleasing. If you have any pics i would appreciate it. I live in South Louisiana, soil type mostly clay.

Thanks!!!!

Howdy, take a look at my homepage and you can see pictures of my 1/3 acre pond in my front yard on a 3 acre lot. Construction views are there also.

Bob in North Alabama

That pond looks alot bigger than 1/3 acre. Looks really nice! Thanks!

Hope it helped, also did you download the pond building guide from my homepage? Contains a wealth of information. They look bigger than they really are. Lots of people tend to over estimate the size of their ponds.

Bob

Thanks bob! How about some ideas on which trees and plants/shrubs to put around the pond? And which not to plant. So far the only way my pond will get water will be by rain fall.

With a pond that small, you can really have a lot of fun by making a very aesthetically pleasing environment. The pond can be fishable as well as very attractive with wetland plants placed throughout. When you dig it you can have have a couple of shallow shelves, about 1 foot depth, extend a few feet from the bank and use these as your aquascaping areas. Here you can plant Louisiana irises, pickerelweed, thalia and spider lilies. These species are all very managable and hardy. I would not put any type of water lilly because the small size of the pond can be overrun easily. Define your aquatic zones and wetland zones by having sharp breaks at the edges of the planted areas. The kinds of problems you can experience with your pond is the same as any size pond but the advantage is that yours is so small it is easily manageable. Put some interesting curves but don't over do it because your area is small. I wouldn't go more than 8 ft deep but don't make the whole thing 3-4 ft. Put an 7-8 ft hole to give it some volume. You don't have to worry about aeration right away. Just see how it develops and work one step at a time. BTW, if you are near Lafayette, stop by the National Wetlands Research Center and I'll show you what we did there.

Thanks for the info! I work in lafayette, so I'll go by there one day!!