Creating the MicroAquarium

  This week we all selected a source of water from which to draw upon for our MicroAquariums. I selected the water and sediment sample from Mead's Quarry, one of the larger bodies to choose. The color and murkiness was rather average, but I'm hoping to find a lot of interesting kinds of little life in it. I am familiar with the area myself, so it will be exciting to see up close the kinds of creatures I have walked past.


  In order to get an accurate re-creation, the tiniest bit of sediment was added across the bottom of the aquarium to start. This ensures that I have a media for the plants I will be adding to grow and flourish in. Then I extracted some water from the bottom of the water source container and carefully dripped it until the MicroAquarium was a third full. The second third of water was taken from the middle of the container, and the final from across the very top. Such meticulous water sampling allows for the myriad organisms inhabiting the various layers to hopefully join me in my aquarium for observation.
Then, we each added a snippet of Amblestegium sp. moss collected from a natural spring at Carter's Mill Park and Utricularia gibba L., a carnivorous, flowering plant grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building to the mix. Plants are important as they will create a natural water filter and supply the various organisms with the nutrients and requirements they need to survive and thrive.
   After a few adjustments, I was ready to view my MicroAquarium under the microscope. However, my neighbor was much further along and happened to capture a little diatom in his! I've previously seen pictures of them, and have always been very interested. Dr. McFarland noticed my enthusiasm and suggested that I add a small piece of leaf into my aquarium as well to promote the growth of more diatoms in my own. I am eager to see how this maneuver turns out in the upcoming weeks.

  In my own aquarium I observed much life as expected, but I could not identify any organisms at the time. The bulk of the life I saw was floating in the open middle of my setup, and all seemed single-celled and unmoving. A few had a green or blue hue to them, but most were colorless.