I am relatively new to this also. I think it much better to have some kind of fish rather than a crop of mosquitos or a chemically treated pond. As far as maintenance of a pond with fish, there are many variables to consider and too many to mention here. We have a small bog garden in a large pot right outside the back door with 2 goldfish in it, we have done nothing to maintain this garden other than throw the fish some food now and then. The water stays crystal clear since the garden is well shaded. Our other new pond is still stabilizing, located in full sunlight algae is growing wild, but not out of hand. The water is still crystal clear after 6 weeks. The pond has a mixture of natives and goldfish. From the looks of your pond, a few fish would be able to keep the mosquitos in check and not become a maintenance burden. What direction is that corner of the house facing? Thats one of the variables I referred to. If it is NE like the corner where we have the small bog garden, algae will be much less of a problem.
With fish, you will want to have some "oxygenating"plants for them, and water lillies help to shade the pond and reduce algae. The rule of thumb is to have over half the pond surface shaded.
As far as fish predators go, I would suggest just getting cheap fish, maybe even borrow some from the lake. It might be exciting to watch a crane right outside your window catch his meal for the day. I'm not so sure they would shop so close to the house, guess it depends how hungry they get.
If you read through the threads here, you might realize that pond maintenance is not an exact science. Lots of trial and error in most cases, of course, the object is to minimize the error. Without specifics, it is difficult to make a reasonable guess. Thats my 2 cents worth, hope it helps some.
(silverfluter's DH... Tom)
