Speaking of the Reflecting Pool...

[jmowreader]

I'm going to assume just stocking the Reflecting Pool with hundreds of algae-eating catfish is completely out of the question.

[taxi]

1. In a sane world yes,

but we have a king, mice, and cheese situation to seriously consider.

The story begins in a faraway country, where a king lives in a beautiful palace and had everything he likes, mostly cheese. His cheese makers makes the best cheese in all the land. Everyone in the country likes the smell of the cheese, even the mice. Soon, every mouse in the land smells it and runs to the palace where they consume the king's cheese.

The king doesn't like living with mice, so he asks his wise men how to get rid of the mice. They bring in cats to chase the mice away from the palace. The cats end up living with the king, who doesn't like it and asks the men how to get rid of the cats.

https://thecatinthehat.fandom.com/wiki/The_King,_the_Mice_and_the_Cheese

[wyn borkins]

2. Catfish Might Prove Useful

Your idea might not be so fishy after all. In a similar manner, a herd of goats has often been used to clear hilly (ground) areas of "green" overgrowth.

However, with all the newly added chemicals to the reflecting pool, those catfish would have difficulty surviving long enough to effectively clear the overgrown algae.

Of Related Interest (from the Internet):

Many fish and invertebrates are utilized to naturally clean up soft film, hair, and green algae in fish tanks and ponds:

Fish: Siamese Algae Eaters, Otocinclus Catfish, Bristlenose Plecos, and Molly fish are highly effective in freshwater. In ponds, Koi, Goldfish, and Grass Carp are common grazers.

Invertebrates: Amano Shrimp and Nerite Snails are widely considered among the best cleanup crews because they consume large amounts of algae without multiplying out of control.

[jmowreader]

3. Otocinclus, bristlenose plecos and mollies would have a tough time in this job

Those fishes are all really small. For this job, what you need are a bunch of good old-fashioned 18-inch-long sailfin plecos, the kind they sell at aquarium stores claiming they don't grow and secretly thinking while they tell you that, "yeah, he'll be back in a month for a bigger tank."

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. This makes me smile

Link to tweet

[Totally Tunsie]

6. Would they also eat the peeling paint?

What a disaster...*snicker*.