I installed my 2000 square foot, 6 foot deep fish pond in the fall of 2013. I waited one year for the pond to grow some vegetation, and to begin to support an ecosystem. In the fall of 2014 I stocked a pound of fathead minnows. These are the feeder fish for the bass and catfish that I planned to stock. I wanted to give the minnows a head start, so there would be plenty of them to go around.