The Beta Food Pellet Observation [October 30th]

I was curious to see what all was going on in my micro aquarium this week, but I will be the first one to tell you that had Dr. McFarland not added a beta food pellet to my micro aquarium, I would have remained pessimistic towards seeing any activity in my aquarium. Dr. McFarland had added these pellets 6 days before on October 25th (McFarland, 2013). Those 6 days were more than enough to up the activity in my aquarium. Before I even took my first look, I could hear the guy across from me, "there's hundred of them around that pellet". I was anxious to see what he was talking about. The pellets themselves, known as Atison's Betta Food [pellets], were produced by Ocean Nutrition at Aqua Pet Americas located at 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84104, and it's Ingredients include fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives (McFarland, 2013). While the organisms within my aquarium, who seemed to be loving the pellet, may not be concerned with where these pellets were made, or what they contain, it is important to consider all things in a scientific manner. A final observation of the pellets revealed that the pellets consisted of 36% protein, 4.5% crude fat, 3.5% crude fiber, 8% moisture, and 15% ash (McFarland, 2013). I was a little surprised that these organism would be interested in eating anything with even the least little bit of ash. Little to my surprise, there were hundreds of organism surrounding the food pellet. The one organisms around the pellet that was most prominent was the Philodina (Wiley, 1989). Figure 1 shows the Philodina as I observed it, and Figure 2 shows the Philodina as illustrated in John Wiley & Sons Inc.'s Fresh Water Invertebrates of the United States by (Wiley, 1989).


Figure 1.



Figure 2.




 

The Philodina was the most active of the three organisms that I documented this time around. The one thing that I noticed about the Philodina is that it seemed to move around with muscle contractions while being attatched to my aquarium via its rear end. The image from Fresh Water Invertabrates of the United States (Figure 2.) gave some light to how they might stay attached to my aquarium. You'll notice in Figure 2. that on the rear end of the Philodina there are two spike like appendages which John Wiley & Sons Inc. labels as the Philodina's spurs (Wiley, 1989). The second organism that I came across was the Cyclopoid (Wiley, 1989). Figure 3. shows the Cyclopoid as I observed it, and Figure 4. shows the Cyclopoid as Wiley and Sons Inc. show it.

 

The Cyclopoid, during the short time I observed it, did not move at all. Dr. McFarland told me that this specific Cyclopoid was fairly young, and that it was in the Nauplius stage of life (McFarland, 2013). I am looking forward to learning more about this organism. The last organism that I documented during my observation was known as a Vorticella, and this was confirmed by both Dr. McFarland, and P.J. Patterson in his book Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide (Patterson, 1996). The images below illustrate the Vorticella as I observed it, and also how Mr. Patterson observed it in his book.

 



The Vorticella was also stationary during my observation. Although I only studied it for a short amount of time, I have these pictures to study as I please. After looking over these pictures now, I assume that the long, hair-like, appendage either holds it stationary or aids it in its move-about. I am looking forward to figuring out just what this hair-like appendage is worth to the Vorticella.