Hi Wylie,

Since no one else has yet picked up on this, (most anyone would be
more qualified), I might offer a bit of encouragement:

I'm not sure where your tropical location is, but in southern Thailand
almost every home that I've seen has a mosquito-fish "pond". The
mosquito-fish are usually guppies or their cousins. The "ponds" are
almost anything that holds water -- ranging from ceramic pots, to
tubs, to more elaborate tiled pools. Some as shallow as you describe.
I see no reason why yours wouldn't work just as well, unless your pond
is completely in the sun where the shallowness might cause the temp to
increase to too high a level. And, BTW, most all of these ponds I've
seen have no air or circulation pumps -- they just let 'em go. And
whatever gets in there stays in there (leaves, bugs, algae, etc.),
until the (maybe?) annual cleaning. Of course, some of them get
pretty anerobic, and the fish swim around the surface for air; but
that's where the mozzie larvae are anyway aren't they? It's a
centuries-old tradition, so there must be something to it.

If it were me, I would skip the chlorine, oil, and detergent...

HTH, David

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 11:37:02 +0800, "Wylie Wilde"
wrote:

Keeping tropical fish does seem an attractive and relatively inexpensive
proposition.

However, as mentioned, the pond is very shallow, being only a few inches
high during operation and is furthermore covered and saturated with river
rocks. They serve to cover the bare concrete floor.

There also appears to be a leak somewhere which prevents us from keeping 80%
of the water in the pond. You can try filling it up to 100% but you need to
keep pouring it on.

Having said that, the remaining 20% of water stays there in a comfortable
state and does not drain away. The pumps being underwater appear to be
working and operating even in such circumstances.

I'm trying to locate the leak at the present, but in the meanwhile I thought
that placing some extra chlorine or perhaps herbal oil or even cheap lemon
detergent into the pond to discourage mossie breeding.

If I may bother you denizens for some commentary on my actions, I'd
apprecate it.

Cheers,

Wilde