61 replies to this topic

[CNewton]

TL;DR

 

Would there be an interest in the community to begin setting up these experiments and studies as a group activity. There's many aspects and topics within this thread. Perhaps if it was broken down, each set up as a thread, and members sort of "signed up" for each study. We'd need a set standard and have impeccable record keeping for each study from each keeper. It would be a huge endeavor, but could lead to a world-wide multi-species studies conducted that would give a range of results to help better understand the hobby. This is something that I've seen happen in the aquatics community that can potentially provide newfound and incredibly useful information.

 

I think the hardest part of organizing this is the fact that ant colonies have a very long life cycle. Multiple generations of fish can be reared in a year, whereas ant colonies take time to grow. It would be a years-long project.

[Lazarus]

As a newcomer to the hobby I've tried to do as much research as possible to get the information I need to successfully raise my ants. With the internet as the easiest accessible source, the vast amount of information is appreciated but of course fraught with the perils of inaccurate or misleading data. (Which was why one of the first things I did was to ask about good books!).

As we are all at the mercy of bad information I would like to point out that when someone comes across incorrect or even suspect information I hope that they would do us the favor of pointing it out.

As an example, consider the questions of the merits of sterilizing nourishment before introducing them to your ants. I would hope that those seasoned ant keepers who do not agree and have been successful without sterilization would point that out when the topic comes up. This is as important (perhaps more so) than reading posts saying this is a common practice and advisable.

This is also why I try to read an entire thread of posts for all such discussions. Even if the dissenting views are from trustworthy sources on both sides of claim, it is important to get those inputs before deciding what to for our own situation.

I appreciate all the advice given in these forums, but it is especially gratifying when they actually help.