Hi everyone, hopefully some kind soul in here can help me....

I've recently moved into a new home and inherited a small pond with a little
waterfall (arent i lucky!) but it looks like it needs a bit of help getting
it back into nice condition.

Basically the waterfall part is full of leaves and the actual tank thing
that the waterfall water comes from has a thick layer of duckweed (i think
thats what its called, small leaves, 3mm ish, with little tiny roots
dangling underneath) covering the surface.

The pump had a standard UK plug on it and from being outside the metal parts
have corroded. I replaced it with another plug and tested to see that the
pump works.

The pond seems to be packed out with Oxygenators or Anacharis (long stalks
with lots of thin leaves curling off and slightly transparent, correct me
please if im wrong with the name!) and im sure it could do with being
thinned out a bit.

I've got a few questions since im a total newbie to all this and would like
to keep the few fish (i think three) that are in there alive and make it all
look nice as im sure it once was.

1. Each of the Oxygenator plants is about 3-4 feet in length. I'd like to
have them a bit smaller and tie them all together. Can i cut them halfway
and assume they will still grow or will they die if i do that ?

2. Should i get rid of none, some or all of the duckweed that is floating
about ? (i've heard fish like to eat it)

3. The plug seems awfully dangerous to use just sitting out there in the
outdoors. Can i do without the pump or are there special plugs for this kind
of thing ?

Any more advice that i might need ?

Sorry if my questions seem very vague/stupid but i've never had any kind of
experience with ponds whatsoever!

Thankyou very much.

Dan Bowles