Ponds

Chapter 9
A. General Background
1. Features of fish pond
2. Different kinds of pond
3. Three basic pond types
4. Advantages and disadvantages of these types of ponds
5. The physical characteristics of fish ponds
6. How to select the pond to suit local topography
7. Laying out fish pond
8. How to plan your fish farm
Definition… FISH POND
A FISH POND is defined as an artificial structure used
for the farming of fish. It is filled with fresh water, is fairly shallow
and is usually non-flowing.
Good ponds should be:
1. Inexpensive to construct
2. Easy to maintain
3. Efficient in allowing good water and fish
management
A. Features of fish pond
1) Pond walls or dikes, which hold in the water
2) Pipes or channels, which carry the water into or away from
the ponds
3) Water controls, which control the level of water, the flow of
water through the pond
4) Tracks and roadways along the pond wall, for access to the
pond
5) Harvesting facilities and other equipment for the
management of the water and fish
PARTS OF A FISH POND
B. Different kinds of pond
Freshwater fish ponds differ according to the:
a) Water source
b) Means of drainage
c) Construction materials
d) Construction method
e) Use of the pond
▪ According to water source
1. Ponds can be fed by
groundwater:
a) Spring-water ponds are
supplied from a spring either in
the pond or very close to it. The
water supply may vary
throughout the year but the
quality of the water is usually
constant.
b) Seepage ponds are supplied
from the water-table by
seepage into the pond. The
water level in the pond will vary
with the level of the water-
table.
▪ According to water source
2. Rain-fed ponds are supplied
from rainfall and surface runoff.
No water is supplied during the
dry season. These ponds are
often small depressions in
impermeable soil, with a dike built
at the lower side to retain more
water.
▪ According to water source
3. Ponds can be fed from a water
body such as a stream, a lake, a
reservoir or an irrigation canal.
These may be fed directly (eg
barrage ponds), by water running
straight out from the water body
to the ponds, or indirectly (eg
diversion ponds), by water
entering a channel from which
controlled amounts can be fed to
the ponds
▪ According to water source
4. Pump-fed ponds are normally
higher than the water level and
can be supplied from a well,
spring, lake, reservoir or irrigation
canal, by pumping
▪ According to means of drainage
1. Undrainable ponds cannot be
drained by gravity. They are
generally fed by groundwater
and/or surface runoff, and their
water level may vary seasonally.
Such ponds have two main
origins.
a) They may be dug in swampy areas
where there is no source of water
other than groundwater.
b) They may result from the
extraction of soil materials such as
gravel, sand or clay
▪ According to means of drainage
1. Drainable ponds are set higher
than the level to which the water
is drained and can easily be
drained by gravity. They are
generally fed by surface water
such as runoff, a spring or
stream, or are pump-fed.
2. Pump-drained ponds may be
drainable by gravity to a certain
level, and then the water has to
pumped out. Other ponds, similar
to undrainable ponds, must be
pumped out completely. These
ponds are only used where
groundwater does not seep back
in to any extent.
▪ According to construction
materials
1. Earthen ponds are entirely
constructed from soil materials.
They are the most common.
2. Walled ponds are usually
surrounded by blocks, brick or
concrete walls. Sometimes
wooden planking or corrugated
metal is used.
3. Lined ponds are earthen ponds
lined with an impervious material
such as plastic or rubber sheet.
▪ According to construction method
1. Dug-out ponds are constructed by
excavating soil from an area to
form a hole which is then filled with
water. They are usually undrainable
and fed by rainfall, surface runoff or
groundwater.
2. Embankment ponds are formed
without excavation by building one
or more dikes above ground level
to impound water. They are usually
drainable and fed by gravity flow of
water or by pumping.
3. Cut-and-fill ponds are built by a
mix of excavation and embankment
on sloping ground. They are usually
drainable and water which is
impounded within the dikes, is fed
by gravity or by pumping.
▪ According to the use of the pond
1. Spawning ponds for the production of eggs and small fry
2. Nursery ponds for the production of larger juveniles
3. Brood ponds for broodstock rearing
4. Storage ponds for holding fish temporarily, often prior to marketing
5. Fattening ponds for the production of food fish
6. Integrated ponds which have crops, animals or other fish ponds around
them to supply waste materials to the pond as feed or fertilizer
7. Wintering ponds for holding fish during the cold season
C. Three basic pond types
1. Sunken pond
a) The pond floor is generally
below the level of the
surrounding land.
b) The pond is directly fed by
groundwater, rainfall and/or
surface runoff. It can be but is
not normally supplemented by
pumping.
c) It is undrainable or only
partially drainable, having
been built either as a dug-out
pond or to make use of an
existing hollow or depression
in the ground, sometimes with
additional embankments to
increase depth.
2. Barrage pond
a) They are created in the bottom of a
valley by building a dam across the
lower end of the valley. They may
be built in a series down the valley.
b) It is drainable through the old river
bed.
c) If large floods are present, the
excess water is normally diverted
(diversion canal) around one side
of the pond to keep the level in the
pond constant. The pond water
supply is controlled through a
structure called the water intake.
d) Directly fed from a nearby spring,
stream or reservoir, the water
enters the pond at a point called
the inlet and it flows out at a point
called the outlet.
e) To protect the dike from floods, a
spillway should be built.
2. Diversion pond
a) The diversion pond is fed
indirectly by gravity or by
pumping through a diversion
canal (which becomes the main
feeder canal), from a spring,
stream, lake or reservoir. The
water is controlled through a
water intake. There is an inlet
and an outlet for each pond.
b) It can be constructed either:
▪ On sloping ground as a cut and fill
pond
▪ On flat ground as a four-dike
embankment pond sometimes called
a paddy pond
c) It is usually drainable through a
drainage canal.
D. Advantages and disadvantages of these types
of ponds
E. The Physical Characteristics of fish ponds
1. Size of fish ponds
2. Shape of fish ponds
3. When squares ponds are preferable
4. When rectangular ponds are preferable
5. Selecting a rectangular shape
6. Selecting ponds shaped to the topography
7. Water depth in fish ponds
▪ Size of fish ponds
1. The size of a fish pond is measured by its
water surface area when the pond is full
of water
2. The size of a barrage pond depends
directly on the height of the dike built
across the valley and on the topography
of the valley.
▪ Size of fish ponds
3. The individual size of sunken and
diversion ponds can be decided upon by
farmer, considering the following:
a) Use: a spawning pond is smaller than a
nursery pond, which is in turn smaller than
a fattening pond
b) Quantity of fish to be produced
c) Level of management
d) Availability of resources
e) Size of the harvests and local market
demand
▪ Shape of fish ponds
1. A fish pond may have any shape as
shown by barrage ponds whose shape
depends exclusively on the topography of
the valleys in which they are built.
2. Generally, however, sunken ponds and
diversion ponds are designed with a
regular shape, either square or
rectangular.
3. There are some cases where it may be
simpler and cheaper to match the shape
of the pond with the existing topography
4. You will also find that rectangular ponds
are not so much more expensive if you
can build a group of them with shared
walls.
▪ When square ponds are preferable
– Square ponds are particularly useful as
smaller ponds (up to 400m^2), which you
plan to harvest by draining.

▪ When rectangular ponds are

preferable
– Larger than 400 m^2 with a slope greater
than 1.5 %
– You build ponds larger than 100m^2 and
you plan to harvest using seining
▪ Selecting a rectangular shape
– In general, it is about twice as long (L) as
they are wide (W); but if you build your
ponds with a bulldozer, it is cheaper to
select a pond width which is multiple of the
blade width of the bulldozer.
▪ Where the ground slope is greater than
1.5%, the ponds are best built with the
longer sides running across the slope,
with the width of the ponds limited
accordingly, so that the downhill dike
does not need to be too high, and so
that the earth built up as walls
balances the earth dug out. As the
slope increases, the ponds should
become narrower.
▪ You should avoid building dikes higher
than three meters.
▪ You should select ponds shaped to fit the local topography
whenever:
– You need to use every part of the available area
– Shaping the pond this way entails good cost saving, for example by using
existing earth banks or slopes
– A regular pond shape is not too important
▪ Water depth in fish ponds
1. Except in some barrage ponds built on
streams with steep longitudinal profiles,
fish ponds are generally shallow. Their
Maximum water depth do not normally
exceed 1.5m. Their shallowest area
should be at least 0.5 m deep to limit the
growth of aquatic plants. The water depth
in small rural ponds normally varies from
0.5m (shallow) to 1m at the most (deep
area).
2. Deeper ponds are much more expensive
to build, because the volume of the dikes
increases rapidly as you make ponds
deeper.
 F. How to select the pond to suit local topography
▪ Based on valley shape:
– If the valley is deep, steep and narrow, do not build
ponds
– If the valley bottom is 50 to 100 m wide, barrage ponds
might be appropriate
– If the valley bottom is more than 100 m wide, diversion
ponds could be built.
▪ A more detailed study should confirm your choice,
based on the longitudinal profile and on the cross-
section profile of the valley. Select the type of
ponds to build:
– Either according to the shape of the valley and its
profiles
– According to the lope of the longitudinal profile (downhill)
and the cross-section profile of the valley
G. Laying out of fish ponds
▪ It will always be easier to
lay out ponds if the land
you select slopes slightly
and if you can supply water
along its highest contour
line
▪ Ponds on a slope
▪ If diversion ponds are built on a slope,
their orientation should vary according to
the angle of slope so that there is a
minimum amount of earthwork
– Slope 0.5-1.5 percent: the length of rectangular
ponds should be perpendicular to the contour
lines. (ie the ponds should run downhill so that
the floor of the pond will follow the natural slope
and no excavation will be needed to make the
deeper part of the ponds.
▪ Ponds on a slope
– Slope greater that 1.5 percent: the length
should be parallel to the contour lines (ie the
ponds run perpendicular to the slope. You
would make the pond narrower as the slope
increases
▪ If there is more than one pond, you should try to share structures such as dikes,
feeder canals or drains. To reduce costs, keep the length of the canals and
drains as short as possible.
Layout of ponds
▪ In series
▪ In parallel
▪ In series: ponds depend on each other for
their water supply, the water running from
the upper ponds to the lower ponds.
▪ In parallel: ponds are independent from each other, each pond being supplied
directly from the feeder canal. Water has not been used after passing through
another pond. This layout is to be preferred.
▪ It is always best to provide a means of
diverting excess water. In the case of
barrage ponds, a diversion canal can
carry the water around the pond to a
point downstream from the barrage. For
diversion ponds the excess water is
simply allowed to flow in the natural
stream bed instead of in the feeder
canal.
▪ All feeder canals should end in a drain,
so that any excess water in the canal
can be discharged away from the ponds.
▪ With several rows of ponds, it is always
best to arrange feeder and drainage
canals to serve a row of ponds on bot
sides of the canals.
▪ Integrated farming