Week Four

Earlier today, I observed my aquarium for the last time. The first thing I noticed was that there were no rotifers in my aquarium, and there were only a few ciliates still present. Dr. McFarland said the reason for this was because they just ran out of food. Acolosoma (Annelid Worms) were still present along with Ankistrodesmus and Gomphonema, two different types of algae. There was also a type of algae present that Dr. McFarland could not identify and said it was very rare. Amoebas were also present in my aquarium. According to the Free Living Freshwater book, I also had Paranema the aquarium. It is a colourless euglenid that is considered to be a phagotroph and minipulates other protists and detritus into its cell by ingestion rods (51-52). The first picture above is a picture of the Paranema. The second picture below is a picture of one of the amoebas.

Patterson, D.J. Free Living Freshwater Protozoa- A Colour Guide. London: Manson, 1996.

Week Three

I observed my aquarium on this past Thursday. Not much had changed from the previous week. The only change I observed was that some of the rotifers had moved from the bottom of the aquarium to the middle. The ciliates were still swimming around the middle and the bottom of the aquarium. I also noticed that there were three Annelids at the very bottom of my aquarium. Last week I only saw one and posted a picture of it eating a rotifer. There have been no noticeable changes to the size or habits of the organisms in my aquarium. The picture above is a picture of a ciliate. It is hard to get a good picture of this organism because it is constantly moving really fast.

Week Two

I observed my aquarium on 11-1-07. The Chironomous larva that was discovered last week was not in my aquarium this week. However, I did notice that the number of rotifers in my aquarium had increased. They were mostly around the moss at the bottom of the aquarium. Dr. McFarland pointed out a Acolosoma to me. This is an Annelid worm that was sitting at the bottom of my aquarium. While Dr. McFarland was observing it, he saw the worm eat a rotifer. There was also a lot of ciliates in my aquarium. These organisms were easy to spot because they were jerking and swimming around quickly. The top picture is a picture of the Annelid worm that ate the rotifer. The mouth of the organism is on the right, and if you look to the left of the mouth and about middle ways down the body you can see the rotifer. Dr. McFarland said the worm will constrict the rotifer and digest it. The bottom picture is a picture of one of the rotifers in the aquarium.

Week One

I observed my aquarium and decided that I did not have a lot of activity after one week. The water in my aquarium came from a natural spring in Fountain City Park. So Dr. McFarland added some water to my site from container 17. Mites and rotifers were present after the new water was added. The mites looked like small spiders, and were swimming around eating the Atison's Beta Food that was used to feed the organisms in our aquarium. There were a lot of rotifers swimming around the moss in the bottom of my aquarium. I also discovered one insect larva that, according to the Fresh Water Biology book, is a Chironomous larva. They are herbivorous and are important in furnishing foods for larger animals. The larva was also eating the beta food. The picture at the top is a picture of my aquarium. The picture on the bottom is of the Chironomous larva's head.

Setting Up My Aquarium

To start our experiment we obtained a glass tank, stand holder and lid. In the lab there were 15 bowls of water from various places. Each student was able to choose which bowl of water they wanted to use in their aquarium, and I chose 15. I filled the bottom third of my aquarium with water from the bottom of container 15. Next, I took water from the middle of the container and added it to the middle third of my aquarium. I then took water from the top layer of the container and added it to the top third of my aquarium. After my aquarium was filled with water, I added some moss and looked at it under a microscope to see what I had extracted from the water. Towards the bottom of my aquarium, I saw small parenchyma cells swimming in circles around the moss.