Week 3: Observing the Aquarium

A food pellet was added to our aquarium this week. The pellet is "Atison's Betta Food" 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%.

When I observed my microaquarium today, I immediately noticed that there seemed to be several smaller organisms swimming around, probably due to the food pellet. It appeared as if there were more in there than usual, or perhaps I was just now able to notice them.

I also noticed that there were several organisms burrowing in or around the dirt. I noticed that these round organisms had small hair-like structures on their body. Thus, I was able to deduce that these organisms were more flagella. They each had two hairs, and one of them is used to propel the organisms around (Patterson 54, 1996).

Flagella:

There was a large organism floating around in the free space of water. It would sometimes attach itself to one of the plants before quickly springing itself off into the water again. It seemed to have cilia on it and a small corona (Smith). From this, I was told that this organism was a type of rotifer named Euchlaris Dilatata. These rotifers have a posterior “foot” and two “tails” jutting out of it and are also classified as semi diagrammatic.

Rotifer (Euchlaris Dilatata):

Along with the rotifer, I noticed an organism swimming extremely fast through the water. I had a hard time following it with the microscope, but managed to get a few pictures. This organism is called a tachysoma. This particular tachysoma has membranelles that are in typical collar-and-lapel arrangement, and it has a visible contractile vacuole present (Patterson 125, 1996; Fig. 265). By looking at the picture, hair-like structures, called the dorsal bristles, of the organisms are very clear.

Tachysoma:

Multiple Tachysoma: