Thanks everyone! The new pond pictured above was considerably lower six months ago (May) when I stocked it. It was almost a year old then. I was expecting that spring rains would finally fill it, but they never arrived.
After the fish were delivered in May, I asked an excavator to pump water from the big old pond up a slight slope to the new pond. He raised the water level about two feet in two days of pumping (at $675 per day). Despite the worst draught in my memory, the new pond lost less than one foot since then. Hurricane Sandy replaced some of that last month.
I'm still 2 to 2.5 feet below full though. So, with 6 or so feet of water in the pond, the experts here seem to agree that aeration is the only way to insure my fish survive the winter. I'll have to get a pump. Thanks to all for your interest and advice!
