Setting up the Microaquarium

Code = Light Blue, Yellow, Dark Blue. W.S.M.
Contents = Water 4, Moss B, Pinguicula

We first obtained a microaquarium from Dr. McFarland which was to be used to place a few drops of pond water from one of the sixteen different choices of water available. I chose to get water four which contained water from a water pool below a spring in Fountain City Park west of Broadway at Hotel Ave in Knox Co, Knoxville TN, taken on 10/14/2007. I took a even spread of water from the bottom, middle, and top, of the sample, making sure to get some of the debris from the bottom. The class was then instructed to take one of the three samples of moss to add to the microaquarium. I took moss b which was Rhynchostegium serrulatum from the biology annex on white ave. at the University of Tennessee. After the moss was added we were given a sort of microorganism eating plant, called Utricularia vulgaris L. or Pinguicula which i added to the microaquarium. After the microaquarium was finished and assembled i placed it under the microscope to make my initial observations. I could see a couple of different microorganisms, my favorite being a small shrimp looking thing which seemed to be eating the debris in the bottom and digesting it extremely quickly. This microorganism could possibly be a Seed Shrimp although i have not confirmed yet whether this is true or not. Other microorganisms included a glob looking thing that dug into the debris as soon as i started looking at it, i actually observed a few of these in the microaquarium. Other than that the microaquarium seemed to contain a variety of different single celled organisms swimming throughout.