Atta - Aquarium setup

[RichardP]

What are you feeding them ??? Nice fungus mate

I feed them mostly privet to be honest and I throw in some apple, orange peel, a few sprouts (But I found they make the feeding chamber smell so I've cut them out), some forsythia leaves that made it through the winter.

But they are now large enough in numbers to clear 3 sprigs of privet in about 20 minutes... frightening..

[Atta solider]

Nice I'll have to go get privet it's not there fav mine not much like it they just started to cut blackberry leafs lol again but there best is alder leafs they cut them like mad i can't wait for them to come mine a fussy about there leafs lol they gone of carbbage and them what you get for Christmas dinner as well lol

[Deansie26]

Your photos are fantastic, don't know how I missed them. Wont be long before you have a real ARMY! ha ha

[Acromyrmexbob]

Holy Maloly!! That looks great, fungus is a fantastic size and healthy colour. You can almost touch the humidity in there.

[RichardP]

At.cp.mq500.lgw.5F15.w - check me out..!!

Right stage 3. But I need some advice. Firstly, this is the area I have to work in. As you can see there are two glass nesting boxes in the aquarium. They are only using one at the moment and I think that will last a few months yet. The second box should last me another 6 months on top of that at current growth rates.

But, I want to get everything sorted now while the colony is small (and largely non-violent).

[RichardP]

So I am going to T joint off the plastic tubing down to nest chambers sat adjacent to the tank. (see previous badly drawn diagram on this thread)

I want to use glass nest chambers from Antstore. I was going to start with just one.

Questions:

1. For a nest chamber would the lid be best being entirely sealed (with a glass lid say) or would it be best if it were ventilated with a mesh?
2. I was going to put seramis clay granules at the bottom, say 0.5cm thick and cover that with 0.5cm of top soil. Is that right?
3. I was going to use a heat mat. Where do I place the heat mat to best effect?
4. Where do I put the thermostat monitor? If it has to go in the chamber then there is potential escape points? Is there a tidy way of doing this?
5. Do I then adjust humidity by adding water to the seramis? Although if the unit were sealed it should retain humidity.

Thanks for all your help as usual

Rich

[Deansie26]

So I am going to T joint off the plastic tubing down to nest chambers sat adjacent to the tank. (see previous badly drawn diagram on this thread)

I want to use glass nest chambers from Antstore. I was going to start with just one.

Questions:

1. For a nest chamber would the lid be best being entirely sealed (with a glass lid say) or would it be best if it were ventilated with a mesh?
2. I was going to put seramis clay granules at the bottom, say 0.5cm thick and cover that with 0.5cm of top soil. Is that right?
3. I was going to use a heat mat. Where do I place the heat mat to best effect?
4. Where do I put the thermostat monitor? If it has to go in the chamber then there is potential escape points? Is there a tidy way of doing this?
5. Do I then adjust humidity by adding water to the seramis? Although if the unit were sealed it should retain humidity.

Thanks for all your help as usual

Rich

A sealed lid with mesh ventilation that you can adjust with covering it,

I'm using seramis and soil in the proportions you described, so I'll be able to let you know.

Heat mat placement underneath seems best suited for these set ups.

You can place the stat probe in various positions, if for example at the top of the tank you would set it to 25 degrees then experiment with a thermometer and see what that translates to on the soil surface. 24 degrees on the soil may be 26 degrees on the stat etc.

Shouldn't be an escape route if sealed well.

I just added about 40mm to the seramis, this with limited ventilation will provide the humidity, then you can tinker lol.

[RichardP]

Thanks Jamie, that's a great help.

[Deansie26]

Sorry for the bullet points, quicker when on my mobile. They answers may be obvious, no matter how well you plan shit still goes wrong lol.

[Acromyrmexbob]

Regarding heat mats. If you are using them two things.
Firstly you need air between the heat mat and the actual fungus. Best way to achieve this is to sit the fungus on clay balls. And if you can place the probe for the thermostat on the floor of the nest tank, between the heat mat and the fungus. The reason for this is that if the probe is higher up then the heat mat stays on for longer and by the time the air is at the correct temperature the base of the fungus could be considerably more.
Secondly I would recommend getting the thin heat mats, the ones that are around 150mm wide. Then heat only half of the base of the nest tank. This way there is a temperature gradient in the nest tank and the ants can move the fungus to the location in the nest tank which is best. You can then assess whether the heat mat is perfect or getting too hot under the fungus.