Atta - Aquarium setup

[RichardP]

If its to easy then where is the fun eh!

I think that this seems to sum up my philosophy I enjoy having stuff to think about... maybe I'm not busy enough at work!! Maybe I'm easily distracted?

[Deansie26]

If its to easy then where is the fun eh!

I think that this seems to sum up my philosophy I enjoy having stuff to think about... maybe I'm not busy enough at work!! Maybe I'm easily distracted?

Hi we're to similar, maybe your job just bores you. That's my problem, its been good to me so I'm not knocking it.
I'm a gigolo

[RichardP]

Ha...

[RichardP]

Couple of updates. I read on the forum somewhere about Atta depositing their rubbish in the lowest area. So I've made some off-angle cuts into an acrylic test tube, at the same width as the glass platform (4mm I think). I placed it where the ants were already dropping gunk over the side. I'm hoping that they drop it down in the test tube. We'll see. I can then empty it at will. All that said, gunk in the water is not really a big problem I have to say as, as far as I can tell, as the fish eat it (I think?)

You can also see that I've added another chamber. I've put clay granules on the bottom and covered with a thin layer of topsoil (from garden centre).

[RichardP]

This video shows the additional nesting chamber. You can also see, half way through the video, some proper clear plastic tubing that I intend to upgrade my walkways with. You can see that the fungus garden has increased in size even in just a couple of weeks. The top of it is now about 17cm * 10 cm.

I think I can safely get three nesting chambers in the aquarium. It won't be very long before I 'll need to expand the set up. I think I should go for a heated glass cylinder extension that will begin where the feeding chamber is now. Can anyone recommend a really clean, crisp tidy solution if I wanted to expand outside of the aquarium?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xnpgyaahecnv ... 2.mp4?dl=0

[RichardP]

On a side note, I was at home and messing about with the new clear tubing, seeing if it would fit and that, when a client turned up (I'm an accountant who works from home). After about five minutes my client said,

"I'm sorry, but you seem to have a rather large ant climbing on your shirt".

I think he was even more alarmed when I quickly plucked it off and threw it into the aquarium. I just blamed the warm weather and carried on.

[RichardP]

Ok, so the test tube didn't work but a quick adaptation and they now have a handy floating rubbish dump.

[Deansie26]

But will they use it lol.
I thought your plan was to use an adjacent tank for feeding and using this for fungus tanks?

[RichardP]

But will they use it lol.
I thought your plan was to use an adjacent tank for feeding and using this for fungus tanks?

You can see in the picture that they are using it. It's quickly filling with the sticky reddish brown residue of their farming activities.

I've already successfully "tubed" out of the aquarium and into a feeding box about 3 feet away from the aquarium. This particular adaptation was just to see if I could create a rubbish dump in the aquarium.

My next two developments are going to be replacing the slightly opaque tubing with clear tubing and then I need to design some way of expanding the number of nest chambers but outside of the aquarium. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[RichardP]

Upgraded the pipe to clear plastic today. Quite a tricky operation with a lot of ants using it!! Also trying them with a sprout for the first time. They like it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/os8hfcagrtie4 ... 6.mp4?dl=0