Reevey Acromyrmex Aquarium setup

[Formica123]

They obviously don't like the conditions of he setup - maybe it's worth trying a simple aquarium setup, like Deansies old one for acro??

[reevey]

hi I only have a tub in the tank with water around it

[Formica123]

How big is the tub? Are you monitoring the humidity and temperature with a probe right next to the fungus?

[reevey]

hi tub is big I did have temp and humidity right on the fungus but the fungus is only tiny now so am worried. the temp and humidity is 24 and 99% on the lid.

[Formica123]

I think the temperature could be 1degree lower if possible but that probably wouldn't make a huge difference. How big is the tub?

[Acromyrmexbob]

Steve, hi, wrote a long reply to this about 10 minutes ago and checked, its not there! So writing one now.

[Acromyrmexbob]

Not been on to check since Friday so catching up.
So, this behaviour is not that unusual.
Many times I have brought colonies of Acromyrmex back from Trinidad and they have done this. The good news is that its not normally a terminal problem and its not necessarily linked to any massive deficiencies in your setup. In my experience its also not a product of dodgy substrate either. I think its a reaction to stress from being moved and can take more than one attempt to fix.
The ants seem not to be tending their fungus which is counter to their normal behaviour. In order to kick start this again I will send you another batch of fungus and instead of adding it to the ants we will let them raid it. So the ants and fungus that arrive will be overrun and your ants will probably occupy the tub the fungus is in. This normally starts things going again. There is no immediate danger to your colony. I am assuming the queen is healthy and alive. Can you feed grape and some honey water over the next couple of days so the colony are still getting food. Also prepare some small nest containers, smaller than the one I sent the fungus in, and distribute them around the nest and feeding areas, one with dry soil, one with leaves stuffed in, one with wet soil etc. Just give them a good choice. All we are interested in on Tuesday, when your new fungus arrives, is getting them to kick start their gardening behaviour.

[RichardP]

The voice of hope

[Deansie26]

Not been on to check since Friday so catching up.
So, this behaviour is not that unusual.
Many times I have brought colonies of Acromyrmex back from Trinidad and they have done this. The good news is that its not normally a terminal problem and its not necessarily linked to any massive deficiencies in your setup. In my experience its also not a product of dodgy substrate either. I think its a reaction to stress from being moved and can take more than one attempt to fix.
The ants seem not to be tending their fungus which is counter to their normal behaviour. In order to kick start this again I will send you another batch of fungus and instead of adding it to the ants we will let them raid it. So the ants and fungus that arrive will be overrun and your ants will probably occupy the tub the fungus is in. This normally starts things going again. There is no immediate danger to your colony. I am assuming the queen is healthy and alive. Can you feed grape and some honey water over the next couple of days so the colony are still getting food. Also prepare some small nest containers, smaller than the one I sent the fungus in, and distribute them around the nest and feeding areas, one with dry soil, one with leaves stuffed in, one with wet soil etc. Just give them a good choice. All we are interested in on Tuesday, when your new fungus arrives, is getting them to kick start their gardening behaviour.

That's really interesting Andrew about letting them raid the fungus and ants. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the set up with what Steve was describing so we were narrowing it down, behaviour wwent something I thought of. They seem more temperamental than Atta.

[Acromyrmexbob]

I find Acromyrmex more difficult to start feeding on arrival than Atta. 90% of any transplants I do are for Acros. Once they go they are fine but they are temperamental. I think its because they relocate in the wild when things are not right, thats their fall back position. So when they cant do that they tend to sit and wait for something to happen.