Atta - Aquarium setup

Let everyone see the story of your colony(ies) over time. Pictures, developments, success and failures, what works / what doesn't, and your plans for expansion as time goes by!
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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Mon Dec 05, 2016 7:36 pm

Richard, your colony looks genuinely amazing!
So big!
Love the gardens built in the tanks away from the main tank. The original setup seems to have lost some of its charm in the face of this giant groaning at the seams. I remember at the beginning when everything was perfect and contained.
When you get this colony away you should very much consider an Acromyrmex colony, you will get all of the enjoyment of the atta without the constant headache.
Regarding removing the twigs from the feeding area, it can be a problem. If you had a second feeding table then you could put food alternately onto each. Once the leaves were gone from one they would move to the other and you would be able to remove the branches from the first.
Anyway, looks great, very impressive.

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Deansie26
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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by Deansie26 » Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:53 pm

Get this colony away? Have I missed something...

Great update Richard as always, can I ask a few questions as can't be ars@d trolling through past pages.
Is the glass unit with the large garden and lots of soldier's an antstore unit with a full length vent?

What temperature is it at and how warm do you keep your room as there is very little condensation, great visibility.

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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by RichardP » Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:42 pm

Thanks Andrew, one of the main differences is that there is now no backing scenery which exposes the pipe work and looks a bit grim. I've also stopped using the surface skimmer and now I just skim the surface each morning with a pint glass.

Jamie - In terms of "getting the colony away", when I was experiencing the ants swimming in droves across the water I panicked (because the setup is in my office and I couldn't have ants everywhere!) and spoke to Andrew to see if he could make a use of the colony if I did have to re-home it.

Fortunately it's all settled down and been a perfectly harmonious setup in the last month or so.

The large garden is as you say - antstore glass container with full vent, although I cover the vent. It sits on a glass "tray" and inside the tray is the heat mat set to about 23 degrees which only covers the left half of the chamber. Interestingly they started building on the right side and they are still not letting it touch the bottom on the heated side if you look (and the smaller tank next to it, where they started building external to the aquarium first, is not heated at all). The room varies between 15 and 22 degrees in the colder months.

I wonder if the big mass of heated water in the aquarium acts like a sort of thermal storage/regulator in the corner of the room.

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Deansie26
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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by Deansie26 » Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:54 pm

Thanks Richard that's really interesting, strange when they do things we don't expect. I'm amazed at how little condensation you have on the glass. Atta are fantastic and it's exciting watching them grow fast as they always seem to be changing but there just mental.
Like Andrew says if you do change get yourself Acromyrmex, great in a smaller package lol.

Ruairidh
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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by Ruairidh » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:22 am

Apologies for my absence, been a little busy. After trawling through all 27 pages. I must say this is a really good journal thank you for sharing it. As someone that knows (or should I say knew :P) hee haw about ants, I've learnt loads from it, was really interesting and the colony looks amazing! Something I would really like to do somepoint in my life. :)

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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by RichardP » Mon Jan 30, 2017 4:27 pm

Well, after 20 months and 27 pages of journal, this thread is now closed. Andrew came and picked up the colony today and whisk it away. A bit sad. I also took rather a nasty nip from one of the ants as a parting gesture. It got under my t shirt somehow... nice one ants :)

I couldn't seem to embed the youtube video sorry.. it'll have to be a link..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PwiP3bRDTE

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:32 pm

Was a pleasure to meet you and the lovely Sarah. Highlight was Sarah standing on the chair armed with the Dyson! Lovely colony, a credit to you. I will hold onto it and use it for shows etc so you will see them again, I am sure! Thanks for being so accommodating and for the cup of tea. Dont leave it too long to get another colony and please do not leave the forum now you have no ants. You are a valued and popular member here! See you again sometime.

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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by RichardP » Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:15 am

Acromyrmexbob wrote:Was a pleasure to meet you and the lovely Sarah. Highlight was Sarah standing on the chair armed with the Dyson! Lovely colony, a credit to you. I will hold onto it and use it for shows etc so you will see them again, I am sure! Thanks for being so accommodating and for the cup of tea. Dont leave it too long to get another colony and please do not leave the forum now you have no ants. You are a valued and popular member here! See you again sometime.
Nice one... Sarah is lethal with that Dyson mind!! She's arrived to the rescue with that mini hoover on many an ant-escape occasion. She may look nervy but she's got a steely calm about her.

Really nice to meet up after all this time. I'll definitely stay involved... I've really enjoyed the experience of keeping atta and being part of this group.

Britishants.com
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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by Britishants.com » Tue Jan 31, 2017 5:29 pm

It was a nice journal, i find atta and aquariums do very well in my experience only headache is the water changing!

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Deansie26
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Re: Atta - Aquarium setup

Post by Deansie26 » Thu Feb 02, 2017 1:45 pm

The big farewell eh Richard, how fast did that come round! crazy. Like the video lol, what did Andrew put them into?

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