Re: Garbage to you, school supplies to me

[krombhol at teclink_net (Paul Krombholz)]

    * From: JoAnn Amber <elmtreeacademy at yahoo_com>

......Living organisms I need for Biology:
planaria
hydra
daphnia
infusoria critters (mixed or as individual cultures)
lemna (I'm hoping to have more than one variety)
elodea (as much as I can get)
riccia
green water (looking for photosynthetic protists)...........



If there are any ponds with aquatic plants nearby you can pull up a mess of
plants, leaves and dirt with a rake and put it in a 5 gallon aquarium.  In
about a day, low oxygen will drive up planaria and hydra to within an inch
or so of the surface.  I used to get plenty of hydra that way, but for the
last several years I havn't seen any, but I still get planaria.  Now I have
to order hydra from a biological supply company.

I have my own Daphnia cultures, and they are easy to keep going forever.
If you need Daphnia, you can try netting them after sunset in open water or
you can get them from various mail order places.  See the Live Foods Digest
archives for details.

For a rich culture of infusoria, go to any pond or ditch with water and
fill up a jar with mud and dead taken from under the water.  You should
have only about 1/2 inch of water over several inches of mud and organic
debris.  This will produce an amazing variety of protozoa for at least a
month. Keep it on the windowsill so that photosynthetic forms such as
Euglena and Phacus will get light.

With a little Elodea as a starter you can grow all your labs will need in a
5 to 10 gallon aquarium with strong lighting.  An East facing or
west-facing window will provide enough light.  If this is not available,
you need 3-4 watts of fluorescent lighting per gallon.  Let the Elodea root
in topsoil , Put in some KCl, MgSO4, and occasional small pieces of dried
liver to provide N and P.  A few oatmeal flakes provide all the needed CO2.


If you can get some starter Riccia, grow it in about 1/2 inch of water over
several inches of topsoil.  Lighting as for the Elodea.


For green water, keep guppies in a well-lit aquarium (3-4 watts per gallon)
with no plants.  Feed them well.  If you don't get green water tell us how
you managed not to get it.  Write an article for TAG!  :-)


Paul Krombholz in dry central Mississippi with a chance of showers
returning tomorrow.