Fourth and Final Observation

Upon the last observation of the semester, the organisms in the aquarium have almost all died. The food sources have been completely depleted and only a few of the more abundant organism remain. A few unidentifiables are still hanging around, but ,with no food source, will probably not last much longer. It's sad to see them go, but has been fun watching them while they were here.

Bibliography

Patterson, DJ. 1992. Free Living Freshwater Protozoa. Wolf Publishing LTD, London.


Smith, Douglas Grant. 2001. Pennak's Freshwater Invertabrates of the United States.
John Wiley and Sons Inc. New York.

Third Observation

 Patterson, 1992, Page 149

Upon the third observation, the food pellet and the Utricularia gibba was completely gone and many of the organisms had died. There were a few Cyclidia and Philladina remaining along with some indistinguishable organisms that are too small to identify.

Smith, 2001, Page 139

Second Observation

A Beta food pellet was added to the aquariums on the 21st of October. This food pellet was provided by the lab instructor. The food was an "Atison's Beta Food" pellet produced by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. The pellet contained fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and some preservatives. The nutritional value of the pellet is listed as follows: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%.

Upon the second observation, many more organisms were present. There appeared to be at least two Cyclops and several Euchlanis and Philidina. Along with the discovery of new organisms, the existing organisms seemed to be reproducing very well. The Cladocera had at least doubled in numbers and the Vorticella had begun to group together in colonies. The Philadina and the Vorticella were very active and produced some good video footage that is included in this post.The Amblestegium was still in tact with a few organisms around it, but the Utricularia gibba seemed to be gradually disappearing. 

Smith, 2001, Page 277

Smith, 2001, Page 490

Patterson, 1992, Page 95

Smith, 2001, Page 143

Smith, 2001, Page 139

Smith, 2001, Page 139