Second Week of Observations

I was able to observe my aquarium for a solid two hours on Wednesday, and with the amount of time allotted my observations were more in-depth than my previous session. I was also able to use more advanced microscopic equipment to analyze my microaquarium and record any of the protists within.
           Upon first glance I noticed the abundance of rotifers in my aquarium. It seemed everywhere I looked there were rotifers; in the open water, in the soil, and in both plants (Fontinalis and Utricularia gibba).  Also, in my previous observations I identified the caterpillar-like protists as midge fly larvae, and I counted at least fifty in and around the Utricularia gibba. This week the midge larvae seemed to be non-existent, for some reason or another I could not find one. Possibly they died, but then I would have seen them in the soil, or they developed into flies, but there was a lid on my aquarium. The diversity of organisms in my aquarium seemed to be exponentially greater than last time. The pictures in the left hand column are just a few of the organisms I observed. I plan on recording video next week to further display the amount of diversity. The larger, multicellular organisms like the insect larvae and the seed shrimp inhabited the plants but the smaller, unicellular organisms seemed to prefer the soil. I'm looking forward to observing my aquarium next week and uploading a few videos for everyone to see.