Forced conjugation? These paramecia are from my large microbe aquarium, three days after I emptied three smaller sample jars of paramecia, rotifers and algae into it. I have never been successful in keeping paramecia alive in the aquarium, possibly because I was running an air pump to aerate it for a year or more. Maybe now that the air is off, they can thrive.
In the mean time, the slide they are on is a home made deep well slide about 1/8th inch deep, which lets me keep them alive for at least two hours. However, in this case, I have refilled the water after it evaporated, twice, and the slide in this video is over 6 hours old, which I think has forced conjugation of the paramecia and the rotifers to lay their eggs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjiZjqw7MDY
Paramecia Conjugation - Video
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Hello Mitch,
Like your commenaties. Converts video into documetary.
Sorry for the off-topic, but you mentioned microbe aquarium. Do you have any details on it? I browsed quickly through your posts but didn't find any details. I would like some pond water to live through the winter. I have several jars with rain water but they quickly become extremely smelly and dirty. I would like to create some more or less stable and very diversified ecosystem which wouldn be too noticable to my family.
Like your commenaties. Converts video into documetary.
Sorry for the off-topic, but you mentioned microbe aquarium. Do you have any details on it? I browsed quickly through your posts but didn't find any details. I would like some pond water to live through the winter. I have several jars with rain water but they quickly become extremely smelly and dirty. I would like to create some more or less stable and very diversified ecosystem which wouldn be too noticable to my family.
Dennis, I needed an aquarium for the same reason you do, our winters here are long, brutal and cold. I live right on the Mississippi River, which for 6 months out of the year is frozen solid, all the way across and 4 feet thick and Kiev is 5 degrees further towards the North Pole than I am. So I image it is even worse.
I intended to make mine self sustaining. I did not want to run an air pump or light all the time to sustain it and keep it from going bad, and I didn't want it to stink after a couple weeks. My idea was to use water and the microbes in it from the Mississippi. And, since I am pressed for space here, it had to be fairly small, but big enough to have a decent size surface area.
So, one day while walking through one of our local department stores, Walmart, I saw a 3 gallon glass carboy on a shelf for only $10. I brought it home, washed it out, found a spot on the back corner of my desk, near a window, and set it up with some gravel at the bottom and 2 gallons of water and sediment from the river.
That was October of 2010.
Since then, it has made it through two winters just fine. I bought some aquarium plants for it at a pet store. The only species that survived and thrives is one called Hornwort. The big snail has died, they need aerated water, but river snails have come in with the water and they thrive, expanding and dying back as their fortunes wax and wane. The intention was for snails to keep the glass clean, and they do that. The plants to add enough oxygen to control the bacteria, and that they do not do. I finally had to buy an air pump and air stone to keep certain bacteria from tasking over. It's still an ongoing experiment. I have partially emptied the water twice and refilled it with more from the river, and brought in a lot more sand and silt. The tank now has a nice colony of bristle worms, besides everything else.
I intended to make mine self sustaining. I did not want to run an air pump or light all the time to sustain it and keep it from going bad, and I didn't want it to stink after a couple weeks. My idea was to use water and the microbes in it from the Mississippi. And, since I am pressed for space here, it had to be fairly small, but big enough to have a decent size surface area.
So, one day while walking through one of our local department stores, Walmart, I saw a 3 gallon glass carboy on a shelf for only $10. I brought it home, washed it out, found a spot on the back corner of my desk, near a window, and set it up with some gravel at the bottom and 2 gallons of water and sediment from the river.
That was October of 2010.
Since then, it has made it through two winters just fine. I bought some aquarium plants for it at a pet store. The only species that survived and thrives is one called Hornwort. The big snail has died, they need aerated water, but river snails have come in with the water and they thrive, expanding and dying back as their fortunes wax and wane. The intention was for snails to keep the glass clean, and they do that. The plants to add enough oxygen to control the bacteria, and that they do not do. I finally had to buy an air pump and air stone to keep certain bacteria from tasking over. It's still an ongoing experiment. I have partially emptied the water twice and refilled it with more from the river, and brought in a lot more sand and silt. The tank now has a nice colony of bristle worms, besides everything else.
Dennis, the plants are home to most of the organism's in the pond or the tank. While many will be free swimming, comparatively, most will be either in the bottom mud or living on the plants.
You have to set the tank up, whatever it is, in stages. First you would want the bottom stage, such as mud, sand or silt. Scoop out some of that after the tank is filled with water, leaving enough room for the mud and plants, so it does not over flow. I would just pour the mud in at the top, so the heavier stuff settles out faster to the bottom by natural gravity. Sand and pebbles will go to the bottom first, then the mud which is rich in life, amoeba's and worms and such will have a chance to be near the top again, instead of being buried inches deep. It may take two days or more to settle out clear, but that's OK. Then put the plants in last, so their leaves and life, don't get covered in silt.
Ah, I found a thread from December 2010 that I started to discuss aquaria, but it did not get many posters to it. Maybe bookmark this and then as you set up yours, take pictures and post your experiences.
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... t=aquarium
You have to set the tank up, whatever it is, in stages. First you would want the bottom stage, such as mud, sand or silt. Scoop out some of that after the tank is filled with water, leaving enough room for the mud and plants, so it does not over flow. I would just pour the mud in at the top, so the heavier stuff settles out faster to the bottom by natural gravity. Sand and pebbles will go to the bottom first, then the mud which is rich in life, amoeba's and worms and such will have a chance to be near the top again, instead of being buried inches deep. It may take two days or more to settle out clear, but that's OK. Then put the plants in last, so their leaves and life, don't get covered in silt.
Ah, I found a thread from December 2010 that I started to discuss aquaria, but it did not get many posters to it. Maybe bookmark this and then as you set up yours, take pictures and post your experiences.
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... t=aquarium