18 replies to this topic

[Rattus]

Hello!

 

I wanted to know which kind of ants might live peacefully in one medium-sized formicarium with my young Lasius flavus colony, should I  ever put two different colonies together?

 

Feel free to write down even those species, which are not mentioned in the poll, if you think they are better choice after all.

 

I will appreciate any idea!

 

Happy anting,

Rattus

[Billy]

I can't recommend a species, but I can tell you that L. niger would not be a good choice. I recently observed an L. niger attack on an L. flavus nest. The latter didn't stand a chance, being smaller than their attackers. The L. niger workers were pulling L. flavus workers out of their nest and slaughtering them, perhaps for food. 

[Crystals]

Are you looking for two full colonies (each with its own queen), or looking to brood boost the Lasius Flavus colony with worker brood?

 

The two full colonies will not work.

Brood boosting will work to some extent, but keep an eye out for brood eating, worker aggression, etc.

 

The one thing I have done in the past to make it look like there are two colonies in one nest, is to have two separate nests in one Formicarium.  The two species do not interact, but the tunnels go around each other so I can see 2 species side by side.

[NightsWebs]

Crytals I had that very thought in mind when I had Mack (THA) build my Nucleus.  The Nucleus has two sides and they are connected by a single tunnel between them.  Only one side of the formicarium has an exit hole to the surface for the out world.  I asked Mack to place another hole on the other side nest bottom so I could add another outworld.  By plugging the center tunnel in effect I have two smaller isolated formicariums instead of a single medium sized one.

[TheAnswerIsTheLogic]

temnothorax will not be agresive with formica.

lepnothorax will be agresive with lasius niger.

myrica are agresive. 

 

 

the single variant are temnothorax with formica rufa group.

[Rattus]

Has anyone tried connecting two ''full'' colonies with one large outworld, where the species are able to interact?

 

Yes, two full colonies was my first idea...

Brood boosting Lasius flavus with Lasius niger cocoons might be an option?

 

Are Temnothorax sp. generally agressive against Lasius sp.?

[LC3]

Has anyone tried connecting two ''full'' colonies with one large outworld, where the species are able to interact?

 

Yes, two full colonies was my first idea...

Brood boosting Lasius flavus with Lasius niger cocoons might be an option?

 

Are Temnothorax sp. generally agressive against Lasius sp.?

All I know is don't put two Tetramorium sp. e colonies with one outworld

I guess it depends with the Temnothorax. Temnothorax are really small ants so if the outworld is big enough the 2 may never meet.

[BrittonLS]

If you're looking for a species to live in the same nest, that's going to be really tough. Although I do know that Strumigenys sp. has been found in the nests of Trachymyrmex sp. where they eat small insects like mites. You'll probably need to look for ants with a symbiotic relationship with other ants like that if you want them in the same nest.

 

If it's just the same out world, different nests, there's probably more variety you can do, especially if you make the out world big enough.

[Works4TheGood]

What about Solenopsis molesta? That's how they got the name "thief ant". Although I admit, I never actually understood what prevents the victims from killing the thieves. My guess is that this wouldn't actually work indoors ... perhaps because S. molesta might use very small tunnels to do their dirty work. I'd love to see someone try to pull it off though! I bet the ant keeping community would learn a lot from it.

[Desnob]

This would be really interesting. The only way I'd see this working would be if you kept two colonies in their own separate formicariums in the same outworld. The safest way to do that would be by using a large and small species where you can make the small colony's nest entrance small enough to stop the larger species from entering. 

[William. T]

I think that the larger colony will intimidate the small one, so that they will stop foraging.

[Works4TheGood]

Regarding S. molesta, I read on Wikipedia that "Their nests ... have tunnels that lead to another ant colony for a reliable and steady food source." So it sounds like their formicariums would actually NEED to be attached somehow to pull this off. Also, I suspect that S. molesta may not even need an outworld. However, as I mentioned before, I'm not sure what would prevent the host from killing S. molesta unless, like one other member suggested, there were tunnels that were too small for the host.

Is this a parasite/host relationship? It sounds like it's darn close.

Edited by Works4TheGood, September 6 2015 - 8:41 AM.

[Tpro4]

when you out them together in one, post a picture or video for all of us.

[Reacker]

I've tried a small colony of S. molesta with a relatively large colony of T. sessile ( I think). After a month the T. sessile colony was minus most of it's workers (100-200ish), but the molesta were doing very well. 

 

For the first few weeks it seemed like the sessile were holding their own really well and seemed to dominate food sources I introduced, but finally I started noticing a lot less workers in the sessile colony and then it turned into a perpetual siege where the molesta would try and get into the tube that the sessile were living in at all times, while the sessile workers failed to prevent it. 

 

The sessile workers had over the course of months piled all the gravel they had at the entrance of their 30x300mm test tube (it was really impressive considering how small the ants were) and the remaining entrance was only large enough for a few workers to fit through at a time. I actually saw a molesta worker push herself inbetween the gravel near the top and the glass and then propel herself through the gravel into the sessile nest before running back out the entrance. I eventually had to remove the molesta colony to preserve the sessile colony. 

 

What I found most confusing about this is that it's not too uncommon here to dig up a sessile colony in spring and occasionally find a molesta colony nested in a tiny chamber right in the middle of the sessile colony. So I don't know why the sessile ants were unable to defend themselves against the molesta like they seemingly can in the wild. 

 

 

Note that while I'm quite sure on the ID of the S. molesta, I'm not 100% on the ID of the T. sessile, but I expect a similar thing to occur with S. molesta and any other similarly sized ant. 

Edited by Reacker, September 13 2015 - 8:01 AM.

[BrittonLS]

Could just be the size. Maybe the wild colony reaches a more stable point before the S. molesta joins in.

 

Also, saw this on AntWiki:

 

In New Mexico (Mackay and Mackay 2002) this ant nests in soil or under stones and in logs (primarily very rotten and soft). They occasionally have an earthen mound. Brood was found in nests from May to August, reproductives were found in nests from July to September, dealate females were found in August and September. This species nests together with Myrmica lobifrons and with Monomorium minimum and Monomorium cyaneum.

[Works4TheGood]

S. molesta are indeed brood thieves.

[Works4TheGood]

I've tried a small colony of S. molesta with a relatively large colony of T. sessile ( I think). After a month the T. sessile colony was minus most of it's workers (100-200ish), but the molesta were doing very well. 
 
For the first few weeks it seemed like the sessile were holding their own really well and seemed to dominate food sources I introduced, but finally I started noticing a lot less workers in the sessile colony and then it turned into a perpetual siege where the molesta would try and get into the tube that the sessile were living in at all times, while the sessile workers failed to prevent it. 
 
The sessile workers had over the course of months piled all the gravel they had at the entrance of their 30x300mm test tube (it was really impressive considering how small the ants were) and the remaining entrance was only large enough for a few workers to fit through at a time. I actually saw a molesta worker push herself inbetween the gravel near the top and the glass and then propel herself through the gravel into the sessile nest before running back out the entrance. I eventually had to remove the molesta colony to preserve the sessile colony. 
 
What I found most confusing about this is that it's not too uncommon here to dig up a sessile colony in spring and occasionally find a molesta colony nested in a tiny chamber right in the middle of the sessile colony. So I don't know why the sessile ants were unable to defend themselves against the molesta like they seemingly can in the wild. 
 
 
Note that while I'm quite sure on the ID of the S. molesta, I'm not 100% on the ID of the T. sessile, but I expect a similar thing to occur with S. molesta and any other similarly sized ant.

I just read that most of S. molesta's diet is from eating stolen brood. They stealthily enter another nest's brood chamber and open loose some chemicals that keep brood tenders away for a long time. Then they do as they wish with the brood. That would somewhat explain the drop in population of your host colony.

[Works4TheGood]

Incidentally, if you happen to be a Solenopsis molesta fan, the article below is for you! S molesta is really bizarre!!!

http://animaldiversi...53-002500F14F28

[BrittonLS]

Proooobably why its common name is thief ant.