How to Set Up Your MicroAquarium and Observation 1: October 16, 2013

Setting Up Your MicroAquarium

Before you can observe any micro-creatures swimming around and going about their micro lives, you must set up their home. Follow these simple steps in order to set up your MicroAquarium:

1. Put your MicroAquarium glass together. There will be a glass tank, a stand for the tank to sit in, and a lid.
2. Add colored dots to the side of your aquarium to code your aquarium in order to separate yours from the rest of the class.
• The first colored dot indicates your lab section.
• The second colored dot indicates the table you sit at during lab.
• The third colored dot designates the seat number at your lab table.
3. Write your initials on the colored dots.
4. Using the designated pipet on the side of the container first draw out a soil layer for the bottom of your MicroAquarium from your desired water source and add it to your glass tank.
5. Then draw water from the top of the container and add it to your glass tank.
6. Then fill the rest of your glass tank with water from the middle of the container.
7. Add plants or mosses to your glass tank.

The final product of your MicroAquarium should look something like this:

My Personal MicroAquarium

In my personal MicroAquarium, I used a water from Lynnhurst Cemetary in Knoxville, Tennessee at Adair Drive. The coordinates of this Spring Fed Pond are: N36 01.357 W83 55.731 958 feet (McFarland, 2013).

The plants that were added to my MicroAquarium consisted of Utricularia gibba L., Amblestegium varium (Hedwig) Lindberg, and Fontinalis sp.. A bullet description of each plant can be found beow.

1. Utricularia Gibba L.

• Carnivous flowering plant
• Orignally from south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00)
• Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta TN. in White Co.
• Grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. The University of Tennessee, Knox Co. Knoxville TN. October 13, 2013 (McFarland, 2013).

2. Amblestegium varium (Hedwig) Lindberg.

• Moss
• Natural spring in partial shade
• Originally collected from Natural spring at Carters Mill Park. (N36 01.168 W83 42.832)
• Carter Mill Rd. Knox Co. TN. October 13, 2013 (McFarland, 2013).

3. Fontinalis sp.

• Moss
• Water source partially shaded
• Originally collected from Holston River along John Sevier Highway under I40 Bridge.
• Holston River Water Shed (N36 00.527 W83 49.549 823 feet. October 13, 2013 (McFarland, 2013).

Observation 1: October 16, 2013

Approximately 11:00 - 12:00 PM

Upon completing my MicroAquarium setup, I was able to observe the organisms on a computer monitor via a compound microscope connected to a camera. I saw numerous organisms, some big, some small, others were fast and some moved more diligently. The following descriptions are for organisms I was able to observe, however, only a few have been identified at this point. The positively identified ones are described first.

• Diatom - Pinnularia sp. and Navicula sp.
• Medium sized compared to other organisms in the the aquarium
• Many looked like a banana in shape and in color, though some were clear
• Long with what looks like a clear apendage at the end
• Not slow moving, but certainly not as fast as some other organisms
• Found near the bottom, near or in the soil layer
• (Patrick & Reimer, 1996)

Pinnularia sp. (Patrick & Reimer, 1996)

Navicula sp. (Patrick & Reminer)

• Urocentrum 
• Unicellular, but has a double-celled look
• Fast-moving, somewhat erratic
• Round
• Found near the soil or in the middle of the tank

(Patterson, 2003)

• Flagelate
• Very quick
• Move by two flagella
• Found towards the soil, but in the open water

• Paramecium
• Very large, the largest organism seen in the tank so far
• Big, somewhat slow-moving
• Tumbling movement

• Other Unidentified Things Seen
• Small, very quick moving organisms in large numbers. Probably the most abundant in the tank.
• An organism covered in cilia and moves by cilia.