From the microbe aquarium

[elvis_saya]

I got inspired by the thread on microbe aquaria - bought some azolla (mosquito fern) and put it in a 1 gallon jar. There are lots of critters in the roots and detritus after a few days:

Stentor, possibly Roeselii since it's colorless and the macronucleus is worm-like



Gastrotrich


Lacrymaria


Euplotes, cyclydium, and amoebae


Lots of different amobae





Urocentrum


Rotifer, possibly Euchlanis?

[MicroBob]

Great images, thank you for posting them! A plancton aquarium is really a joy - even if there is only 15 Minutes of free time one can have a quick look at what is going on in there. I have Lacrymaria in my pond aquariums too - very interesting to observe, especially when they make a bigger catch.

Bob

[elvis_saya]

Great images, thank you for posting them! A plancton aquarium is really a joy - even if there is only 15 Minutes of free time one can have a quick look at what is going on in there. I have Lacrymaria in my pond aquariums too - very interesting to observe, especially when they make a bigger catch.

Bob

Thanks Bob! I actually followed your guide on soil + paper towel + gravel for the substrate.

And the lacrymaria, it's amazing how they can stretch their "necks", the one above was reaching 1mm, almost filling the view of the 16x objective + 18mm FN eyepiece. It's like they sense their prey? I saw this one earlier caught a cyclidium, not very big but still to see the swollen neck and the food being moved to the vacuoles in the main body, what a sight!

[actinophrys]

Seconded that these are lovely images. For the record, the rotifer is a Lepadella, where the foot is in a distinct notch in the lorica. In Euchlanis the lorica is instead folded over the foot, which emerges from a space between dorsal and ventral plates.

[Rossf]

Nice work elvis-saya! I love those testate amoeba that fan out like a spider web-is this DIC? I only get those details in negative phase-not as clear as your of course..
Regards Ross

[elvis_saya]

For the record, the rotifer is a Lepadella, where the foot is in a distinct notch in the lorica. In Euchlanis the lorica is instead folded over the foot, which emerges from a space between dorsal and ventral plates.

Thank you actinophrys for the identification. Just visited your guide, it's a very helpful reference with great pictures.

I love those testate amoeba that fan out like a spider web-is this DIC?

Hi Ross, yes this is DIC on Zeiss Standard, the one with individual prism sliders for each objective. I'm still new to this method and learning the ropes, but I think DIC is more forgiving than phase contrast in terms of specimen/water thickness, layers, and cleanliness of cover slips. In phase the halos due to dirt and other layers will easily mess up the image. The amoebae in the pics for instance are at the bottom, with a thick water layer and not so clean cover slip - also heavily cropped using a 16x objective (contrast is enhanced).

[ScienceMatters]

Excellent photos and subjects! Thanks for sharing.