On this date, one "Atison's Betta Food" pellet was added to every students MicrAquarium™ (McFarland, 2012). The Betta food was made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104 (McFarland, 2012). Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives (McFarland, 2012). Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15% (McFarland, 2012).
I saw a lot of movement in the tank but was only able to focus on four organisms: Acinosphaerium, Anisonema sp., Loxophyllium (Picture 1), and Stentor sp. (Picture 2). I didn't post Acinosphaerium since I posted a picture of a similar one last week nor did I post a picture of the Anisonema sp. because it was a blurry image. In addition, I discovered some water mold (Picture 3), which I thought was another type of protozoa since it appeared to be motile, but the movement was due to the water motion as I moved the base plate around.
At the end of the viewing session, I added water to the MicroAquarium™ to ensure the plants and organisms had maximum available space to move and grow. Until next week!
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| Picture 1. Loxophyllium has distinctive wart-like bumps at the cell's lateral margin. This is a predatory ciliate gains energy and nutrients through heterotrophy (Patterson, 1996). |
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| Picture 2. Stentor sp. has external cilia that move bringing in food particles (Patterson, 1996). |
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| Picture 3. Water mold hyphae as identified by Dr. McFarland. |
Botany 111 Fall 2012 (Blog). Watersource: 11. Fountain City Duck Pond (cited 2012 November 4). Available from: http://botany1112012.blogspot.com/
Patterson DJ. 1996. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. Washington DC: ASM Press. 132 p. and 107 p.
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