Deansie's garage Atta!

[PAKOC]

Hi Deansie,

Nice to see you got some ants, I seem to remember you having a good look at my ones when you came here one time

Colin

[Deansie26]

Hey, I thought it was you Colin! Great your on here now, Yeh that was probably the moment that got me hooked seeing them in your unit, (I still want a unit like yours ha ha, wife wouldn't see me again)
Do you still have the huge tank in your living room with the angels?
Your post was really interesting but thought I'd wait till I get on a laptop tonight to reply, interesting stuff.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[Acromyrmexbob]

Jamie, looks good, how are you heating the feeding station?
Might be a bit of a draught from the gaps in the front doors. In this setup if it was hot enough inside the feeding station I would have expected the front to be full of condensation. Or is that normally covered with cellotex?

[Deansie26]

Don't know that celotex looks good Andrew but is doing the job ok I took that pic just after setting it up so there is more condensation on it now but not loads, the 3 inch celotex really does the job. I've got a big heat mat and aquarium heater in there so keeps it above 20 degs well.

[PAKOC]

Big Tank is doing well - Andrew and I built it three years ago now. For the first year or eighteen months it was full to the top at about 1m high but since then it's been converted into an aqua-terrarium. It's about 45 cm water depth and the rest above water is now pretty dense with various plants including bromeliads, Nepenthes, orchids, vanilla, begonias and such like.

The big wild angels are no longer unfortunately, but the male was about ten years old when he died. I do still have a single porthole catfish from 2002 though The rest of the fish these days is mostly anabantoids. There is no filter, only the plants, and a water change once every few months when I can be bothered!

[Deansie26]

That looks fantastic Colin, you make it look easy! I'm sure its a talking point when visitors come over.
I remember being fascinated by the way you kept fish in your unit. I cant mind exactly but it was to do with keeping the water very acidic which in turn prevented Ammonia being made-it stayed in the form of Ammonium which was less toxic to fish. Sure you added a type acid to bring the PH down. Super interesting, to fish people anyway!

[Acromyrmexbob]

Now that I know that tank is only half full i WILL SLEEP EASIER AT NIGHT!

[Deansie26]

Was in a rush to get away for nightshift at work last night so the ants got fed quickly. The light switch is next power switch. You can see what I've done.






It was a horrible sight to find this morning, the colony was really getting going. Very the sad to think of them going crazy during the night with the cold.
Have removed the queen and fungus to somewhere warm but she looks shot.
Does damper the enthusiasm I've got to admit, frustrated to have made such a simple mistake.

[Atta solider]

So what's happened you turn the wrong switch ??

[Deansie26]

Yep