Tools and Accessory Materials

Tools for Micro-manipulations

Use of a few tools will allow you to discover more about the organisms under your care.  Also, it is rather  enjoyable to actively manipulate and manage the micro-ecosystem within a MicroAquarium.  The simple act of selecting and transferring a single tiny organism is empowering.  Just as one is proud of a mated pair of fish newly added to a home aquarium, who could not be filled with anticipation after having transferred a single gravid female copepod to a new microcosm.  The following tools (with suggested uses) will help you get the most out of your MicroAquarium experience.

Pipets

Any pipet or eye dropper is useful for adding fluid contents to a MicroAquairum.  

wide-tip plastic pipet--A wide-tipped pipet is needed when transferring larger organisms.  Larger organisms sucked into a small tipped pipet are easily damaged or killed.

Retrieving individuals from within a MicroAquarium presents a special challenge.  In lieu of simply dumping the entire contents in a small dish, small individual organisms can be easily retrieved from within a MicroAquarium without excessive disturbance to the microcosm.

Stretch plastic pipet - it can be a bit difficult to control the precise positioning of the flexible tip.  If organisms are abundant, the stretch pipet is an efficient means of transfer.

Pasteur pipet - nice, but the glass pipet tip is apt to break once inside the confines of the MicroAquarium.

Micropipetors from Modern Biology, Inc. - wonderful device, it takes just a little manual dexterity to steadily position the end of the pipet in very close proximity to the target organism.  The micropipetor can pull only 25 microliters, so the suction force is not very strong, hence the need for the tip opening to be very close to the organism to be retrieved.

[need a page demonstrating transfer of single individual]

inoculating wire (illustrate with water molds)

or "flexible beading needles" from craft supplies

slim mighty magnets

microcapillary tubing

Accessory Materials

Wash bottle (for adding water to replace evaporative loss)

small, 3 inch wide boxes

Test tube rack

Converted slide box

Pipe cleaners

Nail file

Coffee stirrers (thin ones)

toothpicks