Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Old White Plastic Barrels

I have 5 55gal old ( plastic starting to break down) barrels which I hope to make into an area to protect small forage fish. The bottom is cut out. They are weighted so they won't float. I am going to stuff old fencing inside so that large fish can't use the space but it would be a safe protected area for young foorage fish. I got questions:

Any suggestions on other materials to stuff in the barrel or size distance between wire? How dense shoud I pack the fence inside the barrel?

Should I add material for spawning? Pond has a few gold shiners. I have some plastic twine from bails of pine straw. I could make spawning mops like they sell for aquariums. Worth while effort or just spinning my wheels? Better idea for spawning area inside of the barrels?

Best area to place in pond? Best arrangement? grouped ? Isolated? Parallel to shore? How deep?

Best way to prevent use by catfish? I had channel cats 20 years ago but I haven't seen or caught any recently. I do have a few brown bullheads that I have been trying to eliminate.

Thanks for your ideas!

It's a tough call on how 'tight' to make the internal 'stuffing.'

I say this because over time, there will most likely be some kind of algae build-up on the substrate, thus potentially making things to tight for even the smallest of fish.

I might just skip the barrels?

CC are pretty crafty at turning any cavity into spawning site. They might figure out a way to do that with your barrels.

I might just make some fence columns and stuff them with sticks and/or spawning mops at different densities and then place them some place where you can observe the fish accommodations.

Once you find the style they prefer, then replicate that one. I trust the fish to make good choices over my ability to advise good choices over the internet!