4 replies to this topic

[awesomezhnathan]

Where I live in, Formica fusca and some type of harvester ant with black head,red thorax and black abdomen coexist peacefully sometimes with a type of red wood ant. Is it fine to house these species in the same outworld provided that the outworld is big enough and has plenty of hiding spots? This is because I know wood ants and harvester ants eat different foods so I know they won't fight.

[Gregory2455]

Not a good idea. They will still likely fight on contact.

[drtrmiller]

The habitat in which ants exist in nature is extremely large, and ants that nest within close proximity to one another may only forage within a defined niche the other ants may rarely explore.  For example, one species may feed on subterranean Homopteran secretions, where another gathers seeds on the surface—meaning the two would rarely come into contact.

 

While a peaceful coexistence may certainly be species dependent, the small, limited space of a foraging area will increase the number of interactions the various species have with one another, and can lead to a competition for shared resources that does not normally occur in nature, resulting in conflict.

[awesomezhnathan]

But these two ants forage at different times and eat different foods so they probably won't be in competition

 

Besides I notice that the black wood ants are too fast for other ants to catch and they don't like to fight while the bicolored ants don't like fighting either and when captured by a larger carpenter ant or red wood ant, they curl up in a ball and wait until the larger ant lets go of them. However when the larger ant grabs them again, after some wrestling they eventually walk away unharmed while the larger ant is curled up in a ball and barely moving, the bicolored ant won't drag the dying larger ant to its nest even if the nest is right next to where it fought so I know they won't eat meat unlike the carnivorous black wood ant that eats almost every other insect except for the bicolored ants that I think are harvester ants. Sometimes the larger ant the bicolored ant brings down is up to three times their size so I wonder how they are able to do this. Any help will be appreciated.

 

Anyway both species of ant that I plan to keep don't like fighting so while the black wood ant runs away, the bicolored ant that I think is a harvester ant just tries to get out of conflict. I haven't seen either species start an interspecies fight or any fight for that matter and besides they forage at different times. THe harvester ant forages at noon while the black wood ant forages in the morning and afternoon. When they meet, they simply touch antennae and go their separate ways. They are the same size and eat different foods. WHat I am more worried about is diseases because I don't think they will start a fight because they aren't in competition.

[dspdrew]

I've seen a lot of ants foraging around each other, and even nesting right next to each other. A lot of the time they meet, and do like you described--just touch antennae, and then go their separate ways. I also have a free-range (not intentionally) colony of Crematogaster in my ant cabinet, where they forage around and get into everything, and so far, I haven't seen any problems with them wandering into any other ants' nest. I think if you don't mind losing a colony or two, then it might be worth a try. I was actually going to try something like this just to see how much of what everybody assumes would happen actually happens. I think some species might not have too much of a problem foraging in the same area if their preferences are a little different like you say your ants' preferences are. Also, I would try this with a very large out world, something much larger than a 10 gallon tank. I think the biggest threat, is one colony raiding the nest of another, but I think if you have the right species this might not happen.

 

Basically, I would only consider this an experiment, not a recommended way to house your ants, especially if you really value the colonies.