Time for another update. A lot has changed. I had the largest of the small dither fish die inexplicably last week. Went out one morning and he was laying on the bottom. When I scooped him with the net he fluttered a bit. He was alive but almost seemed paralyzed. I through him back in and came back 2 or 3 hours later.....still alive but motionless on the bottom. I pulled him off out again and inspected him. No signs of illness or stress. The night before they had all eaten a bunch of red worms and then there was a 10 degree water temp drop overnight. But none of the other fish acted stressed at all, so it's a real mystery. The water tested fine but I decided to reduce the fish load. All the mature fish were eating so the small fish had served their purpose. I removed them and one of the larger female RES. I am doing one 15-20% water change per week.
Feeding has gone pretty well. The male bluegill is a little piggie and makes feeding the RES difficult. He will eat anything I throw in there. I have tried to switch to Aquamax pellets because the live foods are messy and costly. The RES have eaten the pellets but it's hit or miss. They much prefer meal worms. The larger RES has even taken crickets from the surface.
I made some setup changes. As you can see in the video above, there is now a spawning pan with pea gravel. No one has shown any interest in it yet. Yesterday I got worried about the RES as the Male CNBG was being very territorial....to the point that the smaller RES was at the surface with some fins sticking out of the water. If either of them got close to the bottom the CNBG would chase them. Sooo, I decided to Intervene. I built a divider with some plastic mesh. The male gets the side with spawning pan to himself. My thinking is that the RES are not gravid yet, although I see some growth in their bellies. I also think feeding will be easier and allow me to hopefully feed train the RES. Once I confirm female/gravid status I will remove one RES. I suspect the larger RES will be the keeper. She is a better eater and seems to stand her ground a little more with the BG.
