Feeder goldfish are not kept to any decent standard so it is not uncommon to loose some. One batch of 16 I got once I lost 1 the first night and 1-2 over the next month. I still have the rest of them. The fish in there are probably just pretty scared as you think. It is a new place for them and they don't know what the threats are. I give mine some hiding places under some big slate slabs I have. Once the water lettuce gets into gear and covers most of the surface the fish are happiest. They tend to stay under cover but will come out for food as "safety" is just a swish of the tail away. Do keep an eye on the water quality (ammonia, nitrite) as you still need to grow the bacteria that handles the fish waste. Water changes are the best way to handle that, as are squeezings from the filters of healthy established ponds or aquariums. That gets seed bacteria into your pond.

A picture would be helping a bit...outer capped cell is usually honey, they leave the center open for queen to lay in. Pollen is usually a sign that a queen is around. Too bad you only have one hive... If you had two packages installed you could compare. Center queen cells are usually supercedure cells, it seems the queen might still be around. I would check again and if absolutely no queen is around and eggs then a a new queen would be in order, bees make queen cells allot,.. emergency cells encase they need it. Here is a link that might be useful: Are They Supersedure or Swarm Cells?

It helps to know what type of butterfly and where you are located. Depending on the type of butterfly and the time of year and location, they have all types of different behavior. This is the fun in observing butterflies! Some are still courting and mating, some are storing up supplies for winter, some are migrating. Just depends. What you describe is typical of a male who is holding a territory. They like to rest in high places and watch for females and other males. But like I said, it depends on the species, as well as location in the US and time of year. Cheers, Elisabeth

As for the project, I sit and watch, and watch some more, then mess with it a bit and watch even more. Still simple. I've moved to a two flow through system for larger and then smaller particulates since I do not pre chop food nor bedding of papergoods. I'll have to check in at pjames. If a process is familiar that is comforting because maybe I'm not on a useless track. I'm leaning towards not even sides. Or what many would consider sides. Like why do we need sides to bar air? Something like the orange snow fence would be good but not strong enough, plus the dealing with a tiny bit of fall out. But worms need air. And only on top is not enough. More air = more womrs. Maybe just adding air at the bottom is not enough. Why not 360 degrees? Some systems add air with tubes through the vermicompost. I'm not into tubes. Structual strength is again the issue with sides less than 100%. Some systems pump air into the vermicompost. I prefer less work. I have not yet been super sucessfull at convincing my vermicompost to fall out of the open bottom of the bin. I spend a lot of time poking at it and then putting it back on top of the same bin. Nor are my worms "friendly" with each other. No eggs or small worms since spring. Hard to be fruitful and multiply that way. I have a very small system. Are we bad for hijacking the thread? Some vermicomposters bury food in a circle and the worms travel around are capitalizing on the hurd thing? This would mean they are right. I am still surprised. I do know that when worms want to crawl out of the bottom of a flow through they seem to all want to do it like it is a thing to do. Jump into the abysis. They freely drop into nothingness. I'm pretty much a systems guy, with vermicomposting as part of the system of future rabbits, chickens... Aquaponics too. I walked into a pet store, have not been in one of them in 15 years due to raising human youngens, and get offered a free crayfish so it would not die in the feeder tank it came in with. Crayfish are possibly part of an aquaponics system that is not warm. Maybe they eat worms. It may be better accepted into my family than BSFL. I am working on the foundation of a system.