Fish Tank Ant Island

[nx9100]

Hello everyone! I've been watching the AntsCanada videos for a few years now, and finally will be able soon to try to host my own colony. I also have wanted to do a shrimp colony, and thought, why not combine them? Here's my idea, let me know what you think:

A 15-20 gallon fish tank, with two smaller 5-ish gallon tanks sitting inside. The smaller ones, or islands, will be filled with digging medium and have a bridge above water connecting them. These will be for the ants. The rest of the large tank will be filled with water and aquatic plants for the shrimp, with the water forming a natural barrier to the ant islands. Finally, some tubing, hidden on top of the islands by decorations, can run out of the tank to an exterior Hybrid nest, where they can start out before moving to the islands. Hopefully, the ants will dump any waste/garbage/dead into the water, where the shrimp and some snails can deal with it.

As for ants, a GAN farmer close to me has a few Lasius Niger queens + brood for sale, so was going to try with that species.

Thoughts?

[JustABitAntsy]

Hello everyone! I've been watching the AntsCanada videos for a few years now, and finally will be able soon to try to host my own colony. I also have wanted to do a shrimp colony, and thought, why not combine them? Here's my idea, let me know what you think:

A 15-20 gallon fish tank, with two smaller 5-ish gallon tanks sitting inside. The smaller ones, or islands, will be filled with digging medium and have a bridge above water connecting them. These will be for the ants. The rest of the large tank will be filled with water and aquatic plants for the shrimp, with the water forming a natural barrier to the ant islands. Finally, some tubing, hidden on top of the islands by decorations, can run out of the tank to an exterior Hybrid nest, where they can start out before moving to the islands. Hopefully, the ants will dump any waste/garbage/dead into the water, where the shrimp and some snails can deal with it.

As for ants, a GAN farmer close to me has a few Lasius Niger queens + brood for sale, so was going to try with that species.

Thoughts?

k so I am a new antkeeper but wouldn't the ants try to eat the snail?

[Goldendoodle50]

nah probably not The first of all, wouldn't have a taste for it and second of all, they would consider it as a friend as Mikey said in the
video.

[Hawkeye]

nah probably not The first of all, wouldn't have a taste for it and second of all, they would consider it as a friend as Mikey said in the
video.

Cool idea, very similar to my designs, though on a somewhat smaller scale. If you'd like to compare notes check my signature.

You'll probably only need the hybrid nest to start up your colony, with a small arena. The ants will likely be eager to move into the natural setup.

If I were you I'd think about some algae eaters like otocinclus too.