ewest, I have not been able to positively ID any RES in the large BG spawning colony yet although I seen a couple of that "might be" along the outer edges. This year we have a BG spawning colony that stretches 120 ft long right out in front of the house along the retaining wall. This colony is also directly adjacent to the horizontal aerators on the pond and all of the BG beds are getting a very light current and high DO levels going over them. It makes me wonder what kind of effect this will have on the fry that will hatch. As a side note, while looking for RES last week I saw a male BG actually flare his ear tabs out at another male that got too close to his bed, this is something I thought I would only see a male RES do. We have gazillions of snails again this year, I am also seeing lot's of baby snails in the 1-2 MM size range mixed in the coontail and milfoil. It is very possible that our RES are still slightly smaller than our average male BG sitting on beds right now and that is why I haven't seen any RES mixed in with them.
As a side note, while looking for RES last week I saw a male BG actually flare his ear tabs out at another male that got too close to his bed, this is something I thought I would only see a male RES do. We have gazillions of snails again this year, I am also seeing lot's of baby snails in the 1-2 MM size range mixed in the coontail and milfoil. It is very possible that our RES are still slightly smaller than our average male BG sitting on beds right now and that is why I haven't seen any RES mixed in with them.
