Thank you for your replies. The water plants mentioned above have an excellent growth and protein profile to be used as animal feed. It may have been the reason they were brought here in the first place.
What a silly thing, to suggest taking the edibles out of my pond and replace them with ugly, useless plantings? I should get rid of papyrus, tomato, cattail, and cannas and replace them with water lily and lotus? Because they are better? For the fish? Oh nonono, \shakes finger you do that with your pond and mine can remain an amazing aquaculture mini oasis in the scrub lands.
If you have algae in your pond then you have a nitrogen imbalance. Mine is in full sun and needs no plant shading to prevent algae growth. The pond also provides a nutritious reservoir during the dry season for the rest of the growies.
Manatees love water hyacinth --- Jacques Cousteau.
