Natural ant colony

esoxlucius

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Yep,and a nuisance.....but better to have ants in the house than roaches lol!
A great source of live food for your fish, and you don't even need to go out to collect them, lol.
 
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tlindsey

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A great source of live food for your fish, and you don't even need to go out to collect them, lol.
I get 2 species of ants getting into my house. The carpenter and the red ant. I don't like either in the house especially the carpenter because they are destructive to wood. They also have a nasty little bite.
I do toss carpenter ants in the aquarium.
 
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esoxlucius

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I get 2 species of ants getting into my house. The carpenter and the red ant. I don't like either in the house especially the carpenter because they are destructive to wood. They also have a nasty little bite.
I do toss carpenter ants in the aquarium.
We never used to get infestations of anything, until maybe the past 12 months or so. Our problem is....wait for it....drum roll....FLEAS!!!

We have a dog and a cat and no matter what treatment we use on them we don't seem to be making any inroads into the problem.

The issue we have is that when you get infestations such as the one we have the only solution are those flea "bombs". You need to clear the house for quite a while when using those because the "smoke" gets everywhere.

Therein lies my problem, the smoke is deadly to not only fleas, but aquatic life too. I'd be putting my fish at great risk, even if I taped doors up and such.

It doesn't help that during winter the fleas become less active, but our house is red hot due to our woodburner, so they thrive even more!

All I can do is treat the animals and their beds with spray, taking care to keep well away from my tank.
 
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tlindsey

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We never used to get infestations of anything, until maybe the past 12 months or so. Our problem is....wait for it....drum roll....FLEAS!!!

We have a dog and a cat and no matter what treatment we use on them we don't seem to be making any inroads into the problem.

The issue we have is that when you get infestations such as the one we have the only solution are those flea "bombs". You need to clear the house for quite a while when using those because the "smoke" gets everywhere.

Therein lies my problem, the smoke is deadly to not only fleas, but aquatic life too. I'd be putting my fish at great risk, even if I taped doors up and such.

It doesn't help that during winter the fleas become less active, but our house is red hot due to our woodburner, so they thrive even more!

All I can do is treat the animals and their beds with spray, taking care to keep well away from my tank.
I've been using this for years effective if I'm not lazy and start spraying around the outside. It doesn't smell and didn't effect my dog. I always spray around base of the floor.

16701615113516940698020835899803.jpg
 
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esoxlucius

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I've been using this for years effective if I'm not lazy and start spraying around the outside. It doesn't smell and didn't effect my dog. I always spray around base of the floor.

View attachment 1508100
I can't say I'm familiar with that particular brand, I suppose they all vary from country to country. As long as the active ingredient is the same, I believe it's tetramethrin and permethrin, then they should all work, up to a point.

I found those flea bombs to be the ultimate defence against fleas, I've used them in previous homes, but with no aquariums. They are wayyyyy too intrusive, the smoke gets in every nook and cranny in your house.

However, I'm at the stage now where I need something that's better than the spray I currently use, but no where near as potent as the flea bombs, somewhere in the middle, lol.
 
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krichardson

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A great source of live food for your fish, and you don't even need to go out to collect them, lol.
Hah!.....my fish likely wouldn't pay them any mind unless they are the big flying cockroach types that we have at work....just the thought of those being in my home,yuck!
 

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Redtail Catfish
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For projects such as these where you want to see burrows and such you would be better off with one of those purpose built contraptions that you see on line. Not saying you have to buy one, as you could make one pretty easy I reckon.

The main body of it, the important part where the burrows are, is very slender. So you can see the burrows no matter how the ants try to hide them. The image below will give you an idea. These things are quite common, and very popular with kids who want to keep worms or ants.

View attachment 1508086
I’ve seen these and decided not to get one. I’m wanting to take a different approach, I just don’t really like the way the sandwich farms look and I think it kinda restarts the ants natural behavior by not allowing them to dig in any direction they want, I’ll have my colony start against the glass and then start wetting the rest for he ground so they’ll tunnel away from the glass.
 

celebrist

Goliath Tigerfish
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I get 2 species of ants getting into my house. The carpenter and the red ant. I don't like either in the house especially the carpenter because they are destructive to wood. They also have a nasty little bite.
I do toss carpenter ants in the aquarium.
I had a hive of black ants take over an old dog house, they can definitely do things to wood that I wouldn't (pun intended) want them to do to my house

20190618_134029.jpg
 
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