Astounding After the First Week

The very first observation of my MicroAquarium was more than I had expected; already teeming with life of all sorts of different varities. Then, allowing it to sustain itself after one week of existance, it was hard to believe my eyes when I peered under the microscope again. My tiny copepods were thriving in the environment that I had created. I was able to view them moving along throughout my microscopic world.

Even better than this perhaps, and to my immense pleasure, I was able to view a few ostracod (more commonly known as seed shrimp) habituating themselves inside my aquarium. I even was able to observe one up close for a matter of three to four minutes and watch the movements of its thorax, abdomen, and antennae. I hope to have a video of my observations on this posted in the near future.

After all of my observations I inserted a beta food pellet to my MicroAquarium. This food was specifically "Atison's Betta Food", and is 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%.

Setting Up My MicroAquarium

During class we set up and properly labled our MicroAquariums. These will allow us to have an up-close and personal view of the diverse and multifarious nature of the world in which we live. I chose to use a sample of water that was extracted from a water pool found below a spring in Fountain City Park. I made sure to include a small sampling of moss and sediment from the bottom of the water sample to add to mi MicroAquarium. I also added a small amount of Amblystegium varium, which is a type of moss that was collected from a natural spring at Carters Mill Park and a bit of a carnivous plant that was found on the south shore of Spain Lake and grown in the greenhouse in the Hesler biology building.

After completing the set up of my Aquarium, I was eager to take a closer look at its contents. When I viewed it under the microscope, I wasn't quite expecting to see the multitude of organisms that were already thriving in my man-made environment, but there they were, microscopic ciliates and tiny copepods. I am very eager to observe the life that unfolds in my aquarium over the following weeks.