Importance of pond depth

[khayman218]

I am starting to build my second indoor pond. My previous one was about 64" by 80" and 12" deep. The 300 gallon rubbermaid tub holds more water; however, there is less surface area. It seemed to me, that my old rays loved to be able to stretch out a bit in a more shallow (but wider/longer) pond. They lived in there for about a year until I had to move and sell everything.

Is a depth of 12 inches too shallow for motoro rays? It certainly made for easy and excellent visibility of the animals, but I will have to look into making my second pond a bit deeper if that is a known problem.

 

[khayman218]

Here is a pic of the old pond during its first leak test. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pictures that show the actual structure.

I think the new pond will be very similar, except with one small change. On the side away from the wall, I was going to add a bit of a extended area. This area would be elevated to the height of a single cinder block. I would put a sheet of wood (probably treated plywood) on the first level of cinder blocks and then extend the pond liner onto the new plateau. This would be the feeding area and allow for better interaction and viewing of the rays during feeding.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

12ft deep sounds enough for rays to me, but if you went for "taller" fish i would definately advise a deeper pond.
I would advise having a pond/tank that is at least 4x the length of the fish, 2x the width of the fish, and 1.5x the height of the fish. Obviously though, the bigger the better .