Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat A fry habitat idea for a small pond...

This is for the 3/4ac pond we hope to build in my TN in-laws farm. I'm thinking of four or five spawning habitats. What do you think? Obviously I'm way over thinking such a small pond. But I enjoy the sh** out of this and I can do it.

1. Two small kids' wading ponds, maybe a quarter filled with sand. I'd like to put a 2" X 6" board to bisect the pond, creating two spawning areas.

2. Between those two ponds will be one Honey Hole nursery.
https://pondking.com/products/honey-hole-nursery

3. Between the spawning ponds and the nursery is some fry cover. Either this:
https://www.fishiding.com/ultra-fine-cradle-shallow-fish-habitat-structures/
or this:
https://pondking.com/products/honey-hole-brush
Or maybe one of each.

What do you think?

I don't understand the purpose of the 2"x6" board.

Only 2 wading pools filled with sand won't be near enough spawning area. That is enough for maybe 2-4 spawning beds each, depending on the size of the pool. I'd just make a few areas in the pond a 4:1 slope and cover those areas with 6" deep pea gravel. Make the areas 10-20 feet long x 10 feet wide. From 12"-18" water depth to 3'-4' water depth.

Remember the 20% of the pond surface area in cover rule. Any cover you add will help. Take a look in the archives for cover ideas.

Use natural spawning cover - like thick brush or x-mas trees around the in pond bedding area.

archive https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

Good idea but it has practical flaws. When using the honey hole nursery be prepared in many ponds to have this piece of structure to be completely coated with dense filamentous algae to the point small fish cannot swim in and out of the wire box structure. A common problem in many ponds that have FA.

Also consider using several Ugly Trees as grouped together as a cluster. Good habitat structures researched to be long term and very effective.
https://uglyhabitats.com/

Proper placement of structures. Think "Fish Cities".
https://www.buzzsprout.com/976324/episodes/3322504-episode-001-fish-habitats

That's the difference between us. You know what you're doing so you propose a simple, cheap, effective solution. I don't so I think of different options. Lol. I just send your recommendation to my pond builder. What about adding a couple of those "nurseries" to each end of the spawning bed? Would it do any harm? I understand it will cost more. Thanks.

My pond guy said your suggested spawning areas would be no problem to add. Thanks.

Nurseries near the spawning beds have value although an adequate and proper amount of good dense types of structures such as Fish Cities are the best long term plan in terms for overall fishery production.