On Thursday October 23, 2014 I went to make my first observations on my microaquarium. My observations were made with a powerful microscope that had a camera attachment, which made taking pictures and videos reality. When I sat down and looked at my aquarium for the first time since its setup I could not believe my eyes. The abundance of wildlife had grown exponentially. Every little twitch of the knob set my eyes on a new creature, large and small. Although I saw many creatures, I really tried to focus on one in particular. This creature's name is a Vorticella. I made a picture that contained it feeding and moving stage, but they did not email correctly. So instead, I will add a picture of a Gastrotricha I captured. Here is a picture of it.
I obtained the name of the Gastrotricha initially from Dr. McFarland, and the looked it up in the book "Free-living Freshwater Protozoa:A Colour Guide". The book explained that Gastroctichs normally are found in the sediment area of water sources and can sometimes be found on land. The gastrotrich moved around in a slug-like manner.
Aside from the Gastrotrichs and Vorticellas, I spotted a large number of Nematodes. At the rate of reproduction of these creatures, my microaquarium is soon going to be packed tight with life. I cannot wait to see where this goes.
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