Week One of Observation

Figure 1. Vorticella sp.
Patterson 1996, Figure 233.

         After a week of waiting, a few Beta fish pellets, and some artificial sunlight (fluorescent light), I get my first chance to carefully observe the lively activity that I was told to expect. As if it were some sort of black magic, the amount and diversity practically tripled. Unfortunately, my nematodes didn't adjust well to the new environment, as indicated by the few carcasses that Dr. Mcfarland and I found scattered around. Among the increase in of life in my aquarium, the first new critter I spotted was a bellshaped protozoa that was identified as a Vorticella. These little guys were attached to the sediment at the bottom mostly, but i saw a few just floating around. They have extremely fast moving cillia that they use to create an artificial current around them. This is a means to gather food, which in their case is mostly bacteria. Figure 1. shows the basic stucture of   the organism.

Figure 2. Colpidium sp. and Gloeocystis.sp
Forest 1954, Figure 44.

        Heading north, around the food pellets and Amblestegium sp. , I noticed a feeding frenzy of Colpidium sp. scooting around with rows of cillia all around it. This unicellular protozoa was observed most frequently around the readily available food pellet, and I also managed to capture a picture of what seemed to be a Colpidium reproducing by means of conjugation, seen in Figure 2. with the addition of a Gloeocystis. 

Figure 3. Philodina  sp.
Rainis and Russell 1996, Figure 88.

         Among the excitement of the feeding Colpidium and an ever increasing abundance of algae, lurked a hand full of rotifers called Philodina sp. These micro vacumes devoured dead bacteria and algae making them useful and welcomed organism in any body of water. The lack of cloudiness and a build up of algae can be credited to these little garbage disposals when used in fish tanks. I snapped a quick picture (shown in Figure 3) of one of these before wrapping up my day of observation.