Observing My MicroAquariumTM (10/ 29/ 2013)

Observing my MicroAquarium this week (on Tuesday, 29th October) was very exciting. There was a lot more dynamic life-forms in it, which is probably the result of the addition of a Beta Food Pellet to the MicroAquarium.

One Beta Food Pellet was added to every MicroAquarium on Friday, 25th October. The food pellet is an " "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%." (McFarland, 2013).

Before looking at it under a light microscope, I noticed that some fungi had 'sprouted' from it, forming what resembled a disk around it since the stalks were so thin I could hardly see them. However, when I looked at it under the microscope, I saw that there were see-through worm-like organisms living on (and feeding off of) it.

Figure 1.

This is an image of an annelid, Aeolosoma sp. (Pennak 1953, Fig. 175).

Another observation I made before viewing the MicroAquarium under a microscope was that there was a tiny organism swimming across the entire MicroAquarium very quickly. This organism did not seem to like the bright light coming in from the microscope; however once I did finally find it in my field of view, it stopped swimming for a while, then continued to swim erratically across the MicroAquarium. With enough observations, I identified the Cyclops as a Eucyclops sp. (Thorp and Covich 2010, fig. 21.1 F).

On the Fontalis sp. moss, I found a very strange organism that I haven't seen before. However, it reminded me of the organism I described in my first blog entry which had small 'fingers' clawing about. The organism I observed on 10/ 29 had what looked like round spinning saw heads, and stuck out of a tube. I went through the textbooks and managed to identify it. I also took an image.

Figure 2.

This is an image of a Rotaria, Limnias sp. (Pennak 1953, Fig. 128 H and J).

I also found an organism feeding on the moss's leaves. It was exciting to watch, as it was a segmented, see through tubular organism that had a long gut, which I could see the food being swallowed into (making it fill up)! Dr. McFarland stated that it was a midge, and it resembled the picture of a midge on one of the posters in the room, however I did not identify the species yet.


Bibliography:

McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited October 22nd 2013]. Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/

Pennak RW. 1953. Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States. 1st ed. New York (NY): The Ronald Press Company. 769p.

Thorp JH, Covich AP, editors. 2010. Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates. 3rd ed. San Diego (CA): Academic Press. 1021p.