Ron,
Hello fellow central Pennsylvanian! I live near Fort Indiantown Gap, and it's good to see someone with similar interest here in the area. As to plant selection,if you check out some of the water lilly suppliers such as Lillypons or Paradise water gardens, they carry plants which will only thrive in 2' of water or less. Many garden centers and even Lowe's carry such plants. Water lillies are great, since their leaves cover so much surface area, yet leave the area below fairly open for fish. They also are not as hard to cut back and control as many other plants. Rather than spending a lot of money on the fancy lillies, you might want to see if you can find some yellow pond lillies (Nuphar lutea) or as they are sometimes called brandy-bottle lillies. They are common to our area, thrive with little or no care,and can often be had for free as others cut theirs back. Good luck with your search, and I look forward to keeping in touch in the future.