Colony-forming ciliates in an aquarium

Principle
Life in the aquarium is more variegated than one may perceive at first glance. You can not only see how fish feed but also observe the movements of gill covers and how water flows through a fish's body. Besides you can observe mating behavior and territorial fights among the fishes. But did you ever see that fishes eat something from the glas pane which is invisible to the human eye? Small organisms settle on the glas pane and on water plants as well. With a little trick you can get some of them under your microscope.

Benefits

• Experiment is part of a complete solution set with a total of 50 experiments for all microscopy applications
• With student worksheet, appropriate for all class levels
• With detailed instructor information, incl. sample microscopy image
• Optimized for tight schedules, i.e. minimum preparation time required
• Microscopy solution set specifically designed to include all required accessories
• Content available with matching multimedia files

Tasks
Create a mobile substrate for attachment and explore which organisms settle on it.

Learning objectives

• Ciliates
• Gill covers
• Mating behavior
• Territorial fights