Week 3 of my MicroAquarium

On my third observation in viewing my aquarium I found 3 Non-Shell Rotifers (Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa, D.J. Paterson, pg 27).  The picture to the left is of a rotifer.  You can also see the other one, however it is not in focus.  I also found a Seed Shrimp, from the Kingdom: Animal, Phylum: Arthropodu (Arthopods), Class: Crustacea (Crustaceans) and Subclass: Ostracoda (Ostracods) (Guide to Microlife, Kenneth Rainis, Bruce Russell, pg 209). A Seed Shrimp has many hairs located around their body and claw/pinchers coming out of their body that help them move and eat.  These are the only two organisms that I found this week.

Week 2 of my MicroAquarium

When looking at my aquarium today, I found roughly 4 Rotifer, from the genus Philodina.  These organisms are free to move all around because they do not have a shell.  I also saw a Rotifer but of a different genus.  It was from the genus Euchlanis Dilatata, there were about 5 or so swimming around but these organisms have limited freedom because they have an outer shell (Smith, Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States, pg 131 and 132).  Annelida, from the genus group Chaetogaster, is a worm that is divided into segments (Guide to Microlife, Rainis, Russel. Pg 226).  I also saw a water flee from the classification of the Ostracoda, and from the genus Cypris. (Fresh-Water Biology, Ward and Whippie, pg. 817)  The Cypris has hair follicles around its body and has propeller looking things that help them move around.  These are the organisms that I found in my second week of observing my aquarium. 

MicroAquarium

In my MicroAquarium, I used water from a pond located in Knoxville.  I added three layers of water, the bottom layer contained dirt, then I added water from the middle layer of the pond, and filled the rest with water from the surface of the pond.  Once the water was added, I placed moss into my tank.  I observed under a microscope different organism swimming in the tank I created.  One of the organisms that I found was big and fat, and swam in circles very fast eating the moss. The organism that I saw was a Daphnia, and was located in the middle of the tank.  I also saw a worm moving slowly around between the middle and top of the tank.  The worm would stretch out and then quickly move back into a ball, much like an inchworm does.  The worm that I saw was a Rotifer.  I also saw another organism that looked like it had many hair follicles coming out of it's body and was moving in circles.  The organism was located between the bottom and middle of the tank, and is called a Ciliate.   I also saw many tiny organisms that were moving quickly around the entire tank.  The Daphnia, Ciliate and the Rotifers were the organisms that I found in the first week of observation.