Yes, there are mosquito dunks that garden centers should carry. I plan to container watergarden next season too, mainly with waterlilies. One thing that I plan to do is every couple of days insert the waterhose in the pot and let it overflow to flush out any nasties that might be in there and keep the water from getting stagnant. Don't forget to fertilize!

I put ONE betta fish in my big crock and it takes care of all the mosquito larva.
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Has a tiny species water lily called Nymphaea pygmaea
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You can also do dwarf lotus, like my Momo Botan planted in a half wine barrel.
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Here is a bog garden..NO standing water...just soggy soil and some colorful foliage and textures mixed together.
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I think most of us here have had or have a container water feature, even if only temporary as we move on to bigger things. Watergal was my inspiration and her site shows several beautiful small container gardens. Be sure to click on the link near the bottom to see her 300ga stock tank pond.

Think about using dwarf varieties of plants, I do even in my 300ga "container" pond!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sheila J's Container Ponds

Oh these are NICE! I love your lotus, Joyce. That what I want, too. I had 4 minnows in the 20 gal tub to eat the mosquito larvae. I didn't have to feed them but I did anyway, so I could see them when they came up for flakes. I had anacharis sunk down in there for food, shelter and oxygen. You don't have to, I understand, but my husband and both felt the fish added a lot to the little tub garden.
Vanessa

Great pictures and wonderful inspiration! I would like to add a fish or two to take care of mosquito larvae, but do you think the water would be too warm? It is a 15 gal crock, the old fashioned, pickling type...nothing as pretty as Joyce's blue & white one, but charming in an old fashioned way. If I put it in full sun, with temps up to or just over 100 degrees every day...wouldn't that "cook" fish?

I'd bet it'd cook the plants, too. I'm not nearly as hot as you but just as sunny. I actually had 2 20gal tubs for a while. The one well under my porch overhang was lush. The one in full sun had sunburned plants and lots of algae. I think you're going to need some shade. A master gardener friend reminded me that full sun is considered 6 hours, not the twelve I (and you) get. She was right. If not on a covered porch, maybe on or next to a patio table with an umbrella?
Vanessa

Given: The plants will shade the water, keeping it from getting too warm. :)

The natural habitat of a betta fish is in Southeast Tropical Asia, in shallow, slow moving or stagnant water that get full sun from morning 'til night, therefore gets very warm. (rice paddies in many parts of Asia are full of bettas)
My container pond is on my bluestone patio in full sun (well over 6 hours), and those bluestones heat up like branding irons in the sun...you can't walk on them barefoot. Yet the container pond plunked right on the bluestone is fine...the plants cover most of the water...and the betta fish THRIVED. Betta fish have a type of lung-like organ called a labyrinth, so they can breathe by gulping air at the surface. (they also use their gils too, so they have 2 ways of absorbing oxygen)
I know the water in my container pond gets into the 90s quite often...no problem for the betta. He is in his 3 year wintering indoors now.
Also, if you do decide to add a betta to your container pond...remember, the lighter the color of the fish, the more you will see him. Bettas are very smart about predators (instinctual: because they have so many predators in their native habitat). I had a raccoon attack my little Pondsai and all the container ponds on the patio...and the betta hid so well that he was one of the few fish that didn't become raccoon food. :)

My betta is blood red. Can't see him too well, but then again, he hides in the plants most of the time any way.

Another thing about bettas is that they can...and will jump out of the container IF they don't have sufficient hiding spots (such as under plants). I think it is a survival instinct...to jump to a safer habitat like they do in the wild. When they jump, they think they are going to another rice paddy. Also, do not fill up your container to the top...the betta will simply swim up over the edge...thinking it is swimming to the next rice paddy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Betta Fish Facts

My only experience with a container water garden was really by accident. Before I dug the hole for my pond, I jumped the gun and bought some plants for it as soon as the water garden shop received their first shipment of plants. I put them (parrot feather, umbrella plant, a bunch of underwater oxygenators) in one of those large blue plastic tubs with rope handles. I think they hold 20 or 25 gallons.

After the pond was completed and the water had sat in it a few days I was finally ready to put the plants in the pond. Lo and behold, I looked in the tub and it was FULL of teeny tiny baby fish!!!!

I asked my boyfriend, who wasn't too excited about the pond in the first place, if he had played a joke on me by putting fish in the tub. Of course, he thought I was delusional.

They must have come in as eggs on the plants. Anyway, I went back to the watergarden store for more plants for the pond and left the tub on the patio with the original plants and baby fish: no pump, no aeration, in full sun all summer and fish did just fine. I was a newbie and didn't know anything about ponding at the time. Today I'd not dare do such a thing. So maybe it was beginner's luck. Any time I stuck my finger in the water it wasn't too warm - felt pretty cool to me, even on hot, hot days.

So.. that's my experience. I am 2000 miles north of you and, having lived in Houston for 20 years, know that hot up here is nothing like HOT in TX.

Please post pics in the Gallery when you get set up. I'd love to see what you create.

Thanks for the info, fellow fanatics. As soon as the weather gets a bit settled I am going to start my crock water garden. For the next 6 weeks or so the nights are a bit cool. We don't always get a frost this far south, but you just never know. And I love the idea of a Beta, definetly gonna try that.
Sue

Would I be able to do this as a house plant, on a smaller scale of course?? I don't have a yard, or a patio space....but have always loved the idea of a water garden.