MicroAquarium Entry #2

When I went back to my aquarium for the first time since setting it up, not much had changed. I was able to find several different organisms and I believe I correctly identified them. The first organism I saw was very insect-like with two long, jointed tails. It moved quickly like it was crawling and I believe it to be a Crustacea in the Copepods category.I saw two of these, one at the bottom and one in the middle of the aquarium. I saw several green, thin strands that seemed to be some Desmids. Also, I saw several small, pill-shaped creatures that often traveled in circles or S-shapes. Often when I saw them, they were in very large groups swimming around. I presumed them to be either mosquito larvae or nematodes. The last organism I saw was also the most interesting. It was very close to the bottom and the entire time I watched it, it did not move. It was vary large with a circular shaped body. It had a tail with five or six divisions in it. And all around its body were small hairs, which I believe were cilia. When searching through the book, I think that this organism I saw was in the Coleps category of the Ciliates. All of the findings that I recorded came from the Pond Life Identification Kit.

Setting Up the MicroAquarium

Last Wednesday, we set up our aquariums using the glass tank, a stand holder, and a lid. We put our initials on multicolored dots that matched our seat and table number. We then extracted water from a water source of our choice, mine was from Tommy Schumpert Pond at Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge. There is partial shade at this pond and there is some sheet runoff around the sinkhole. The coordinates for this pond are N35 57.256, W83 41.503. The plants that I added to my aquarium are Amblestegium varium from a spring at Carter's Mill Park, Fontinalis sp. from the Holston River along Sevier Highway under the I-40 bridge, and Ultracularia gibba from the south shore of Spain Lake. The only organisms that I could find were some fleas, water bugs, and a few other arthropods. Nothing was very distinct and I expect to see more movement as this project moves forward.