Week 4 Observations

On Thursday November 13, 2014 I went into the lab for my final microaqaurium observation.  Due to the sheer lack of food that my creatures were receiving, I was not expecting to see many.  After sitting down and looking through the microscope, I was not surprised.  What was once a flourishing environment after the food pellet was now nothing.

The only creatures that I was able to find were a Gastrotricha, Vorticella, Amoeba, and Seed Shrimp.  Everything else had died off including the plant life.  The plants were starting to turn brown and the creatures had started to move away from them.  The largest abundance of life occurred in the sediment of the microaquarium.  I found 2 seed shrimp scurrying around the soil looking for a meal. This is also where a large portion of the Vorticella resided.

After completing my observation it was time to put the microaquarium up.  I took the cover and holder off of the aquarium and placed them into separate buckets.  The aquarium itself was placed into a bucket with water that contained everybody's microaquariums.

After the completion of all of the microaquarium observations, I can say that I learned a few things.  To start off, I would have never guessed how fast these creatures can multiply in a sustainable environment.  Also, I did not realize that these creatures actually can have a complex makeup, instead of just being blobs.  Another upside to this project was that I became a lot more familiar with the use of a microscope.  I am thankful that I was able to participate in this project.

Week Three Observations

For my week three observations, I went in on Thursday November 6, 2014.  Before I arrived I expected to have another outstanding week like week two.  The abundance of life had skyrocketed that week due to the beta food pellet.  To my surprise, my observation was quite a let down.  The more I looked through the microscope, the more dead creatures I was finding.  They had destroyed the food pellet and had no food left.  Although, it was pretty interesting being able to observe some organisms eating the ones that had died out.  The amount of creatures in my microaquarium had definitely deteriorated, but there was still many to observe.  One of my favorite creatures during the observation was the Limnias Rotifer (seen below).

The rotifer was a pretty cool organism.  The two antenna-like parts of it have hairs that will rotate in the motion of a chainsaw, creating a sucking effect in the water.  I could see particles flowing directly into it.  For the entire time that I looked at him, the rotifer remained stationary.

The next organism that I looked at was an amoeba (seen below).

The amoeba was really fun to watch.  The way it moved was incredible.  It would wiggle its body in a very random fashion to get moving.  It wasn't the easiest task in the world to get the picture, but he stopped for a couple of seconds giving me the opportunity.

I'm curious to see how much life will have died off by my next observation.  I can only predict that the organisms left will be the ones that are self producers or feed off of decomposing bodies.  To my surprise the plant life in the microaquarium is still flourishing.  I thought that they would start to die by now.  Hopefully there will still be something to look at when I come in next time.  I'll just have to wait and see.

Week Two Observations

On Thursday October 30, 2014 I went into the lab to perform my second microaquarium observation.  Prior to my arrival, Mr. McFarland placed one beta food pellet in my microaquarium.  This was done on Friday October 24, 2014.  

Beta Food Pellet

"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%.

When I arrived at the lab I grabbed my microaquarium thinking that the food pellet would have minimal effect over the amount of life in the aquarium.  Although, after looking at it in the microscope for a couple of seconds I could tell that that was far from correct.  The amount of life inside the aquarium had exploded!  The week before I actually had to look hard for creatures and this week I would see multiple with every flick of the turn knob.

One creature that really caught my attention was a Seed Shrimp.

The Seed Shrimp, or Ostracod, is quite an interesting life form.  He might be the fastest creature in my aquarium.  When I was observing it, the seed shrimp liked to reside in the bottom in all of the sediment.  It was actually rather large, and when I looked closely enough I could see it with my naked eye.  Upon further inspection in the microscope I could see that it had a set of pinchers that it would move very vigorously.  I only found 2-3 seed shrimp in my aquarium.

The next creature that I snapped a picture of was the Oscillatoria.

The Oscillatoria were everywhere in my aquarium.  They are a type of cyanobacteria named after there movement.  The one that is in the picture above would move very slowly and jiggle.  The Oscillatoria is rather large compared to other creatures in the microaquarium.

The beta food pellet made a huge impact on the overall abundance of life.  It is amazing that in that small span of time these creatures were able to reproduce so rapidly.  I am looking forward to seeing was is in store for next week.