Wow, see how new I am at this. Tons of things I didn't even think to tell yall about LOL... Here goes...

How old is the pond? The HOA says it's a retaining pond only and was created when the neighborhood was built 3 years ago. I have seen topo maps and aerial pics that date back at least 10 years prior. My veterinarian also says he fished in this pond when he was young...50+ years ago. I do know that when the neighborhood was being built, they completely drained the pond and added a huge drain tube thing so the overflow can run down to a nearby stream.

Got any pics to post? I'll get some good ones in the morning.

What is water quality? Not sure what you're asking for here. I can see to the bottom most days. After a hard rain it's muddy/murky for 2-3 days

condition of the dam? The dam is the main road in our neighborhood I guess. I'll take some pictures over there too, because I'm really not sure that there is a dam.

pond bottom composition....muck/clay/? Last year the bottom seemed to be really mucky. We had a LOT of leaches, as evidenced by the many times my kitchen looked like a murder scene after my 9 year old would go for a swim. The soil around here is red clay. This year the bottom doesnt look as mucky and I can see firm clay in most areas.

Water source? I believe it's mostly run off water. The pond went down quite a bit last summer. One of the new lots we're buying has a marshy area on it. I believe that's being fed by an underground spring. If it is, we plan to figure out a way to tap into it and run it to the pond.

Vegetation? There's lots of rush around the edges and some in the pond. There's also a lot of algea, but not sure what kind. During the summer there's one area that grows taller grassy looking stuff.

What type and # of fish currently in pond? Last April, I purchased 25 2-3lb catfish, 100 2-3 inch catfish, 100 1-3 inch hybrid bluegill, 50 2-4 inch large mouth bass and 5 grass eating carp. The smaller cats and the blue gill are about 6 inches now. The large mouth bass....WOW! They are all about 15 inches long and weigh 2 1/2lbs. Today, I put in 1000 4-6 inch cats, 50 2-4 inch large mouth bass, 100 BC (some sort of crappie maybe?), 100lbs of FHM, 500 2-4 inch copper nose blue gill and 200 readear (they told me these will eat leaches). Prior to last year, the pond had a TON of minnows and frogs & tadpoles. There's also a lot of crawfish and turtles. Last summer, my son began a relocation program for the snapping turtles LOL. He's catch them, put them in a baby pool and we'd release them on the weekends a large lake. We have alligator snappers, red ear sliders and painted turtles.

Goals? We moved into town to be closer to my boys' school. We left 365 acres so the pond in the back yard was a HUGE compromise for my older nature loving son. Last spring he bought 4 mallard babies from the feed store and raised them then released them into the pond. He just got 6 more mallard babies and 4 pekin babies earlier this week. He and his "babies" had a nice relaxing soak in the tub this evening! Yes, 10 ducklings and a 9 year old in my tub! We feed them and the multidues of geese that stop by for visits. We have one heron that enjoys frequent visits and several hawks and owls. My oldest basically lives by that pond. He turns over every rock, inspects every hole, nook and crannie. He LOVES to fish and tought himself to cast last summer. He uses an open reel (the line is not all closed up in it's own lil compartment?). However, when he catches something he holds it very gently, pets it and tells it to hold very still so he can get the hook out. Then he very gently lowers it back into the water. You can see the worry in his face that he's hurting his "babies". We just want to create a thriving little ecosystem here. He and his friends have so much fun fishing. The bass basically jump on the bank when they see him going toward the pond!

Why do you think you need to aerate? Honestly, I just assumed that was something that needed to be done.

As for the ownership of the pond... each lot surrounding it actually goes into it and meets in the center. The owners of the lots own the pond. The HOA has no control over it at all. They don't want to pay for it, but it sure irks them that they have no ownership of it LOL. They threw a tantrum when they saw us fertilizing it off the back of a jet ski one day. They tried to tell me I couldn't stock it because they didn't want people showing up to fish in it. When I explained they had no say in what I did with the pond, they backed off some.