# Ants!



## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

I noticed small brown ants (common in this area) coming in under the crown molding on the floor behind my fish tank. Apparently they made their way up my tank and underneath my Emperor 400 on the rim of the tank. There was quite a bit of them. I did my best to clean them off the tank but in the process a few fell in the water and my haps and peacocks got a snack. I didn't want to spray in the area for obvious reason so I set up ant house traps on the rim of the tank where they won't fall in the water and also on the floor.

Any other suggestions? Any need to worry about my fish eating the ants?


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## shellies215 (Jan 7, 2011)

No need to worry about the protein snack, but I wouldn't leave the traps on the tank, I imagine they still have some kind of bait or poison in them that you don't want to risk getting in the tank. I'm probably being overly cautious, but I'd rather be safe when it comes to my fish


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## Cognition (Oct 14, 2009)

Instead of focusing on the rim of the tank, why not stop the ants before they get there? If the traps work for u, just place em at the bottom of your stand. Personally I thank the traps just attract them, the only way we've found to stop them is a little lavender oil, the essential oil extract, not the flavored stuff for oil lamps... best of luck with the ant problem.


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## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

Cognition said:


> Instead of focusing on the rim of the tank, why not stop the ants before they get there? If the traps work for u, just place em at the bottom of your stand. Personally I thank the traps just attract them, the only way we've found to stop them is a little lavender oil, the essential oil extract, not the flavored stuff for oil lamps... best of luck with the ant problem.


I did put some traps on the floor around the tank, also realized that a vacuum cleaner works pretty well on ants.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Also go outside your house and watch to see where they are coming in. I put a little boric acid (powder) on the ground outside where they are coming in and they stopped coming.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

I had the same problem not too long ago. Ants built a nest in my canister filter. I had to use the vacume and suck them up and also i did end up spraying some chemicals in the corner of the wall/floor where they were coming in at. Never had that problem again. THat was like 7 months ago.


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## Flippercon (Mar 5, 2011)

Boric Acid. its a powder form , you put it in an old soda cap and place at point of entry. They are attracted to it and share it. It will kill them in a few days. If you have other animals or kids place in a space they could not get to. It looks like powdered sugar so keep away from children. I have the same problem in the Spring every year. I have been told the ants come in for the moisture in the houses. Hope this helps . good luck :thumb:


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## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

Thanks for all the suggestions. Ill give them a try.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

_Probably the fish are fine if they eat an ant or two,_ but it made me think back to a few years ago when I fed them to my pet toads. They were American toads that I'd raised from eggs and since they only see food that is moving I had to provide them with live food. Not easy. 
I did the mail order crickets, meal worms, earthworms were always popular although they were a bit of a challenge for the toad because they kept wriggling back out. Very creepy the first time I saw it.

Anyways with the ants, which were easy to find, the toads snapped them right up but a few seconds later they seemed stressed and suddenly out came the ants, all agitated and dashing around and completely un-harmed. After that the toads wouldn't go near them. 
I thought it was odd but then I remembered how when I found an ant in the bathroom I grabbed it with a piece of toilet paper and threw it in the toilet.(Not nice, I know, it was just knee jerk reaction). The ant continued to dash around and fidget underwater, seemingly undisturbed by being underwater and continued to do so even as I flushed. (I felt really bad after I did that--I was just so creeped out)

So it may be with the fish, as I think with my long departed toads, (and being flushed), that perhaps ants don't die right away and may sting or whatever even as they are going down. They're such tough little insects. I don't know if they would do any harm to the fish or not. 
Nothing scientific here, just a personal observation--

Robin


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## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

Funny you mentioned that cause that is exactly what happened as far as the ants moving around under water. My deep water hap came and goobled him right up. Fortunately everyone seemed fine today and my vacuuming seemed to work.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Well up here in Maine we're just maybe a month behind New Jersey in weather so I'll keep my eyes out for ants--we get the seasonal invasion too. And promise: I won't flush any. Nothing deserves to go like that, except maybe ticks. . .

Robin


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## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

Funny you mentioned that cause that is exactly what happened as far as the ants moving around under water. My deep water hap came and goobled him right up. Fortunately everyone seemed fine today and my vacuuming seemed to work.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

I once threw a large female black widow in a tank I had a few years back. A nimbochromis venustus went straight for it. A minute after swallowing the spider it went crazy, violently shaking its head and flashing off the sides of the tank. A minute later it calmed down and everything was fine. He lived for a few years after that.


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## Frenzy (Dec 29, 2007)

eeztropheus said:


> I once threw a large female black widow in a tank I had a few years back. A nimbochromis venustus went straight for it. A minute after swallowing the spider it went crazy, violently shaking its head and flashing off the sides of the tank. A minute later it calmed down and everything was fine. He lived for a few years after that.


Why?


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

You can eat black widow spiders and as long as they do not bite you while they are going down then most likely anything that eats it will surive. Black Widows are venomous not poisonous. I would never recommened anyone trying this or feeding it to there animals but in theory you should be ok.


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Sad story here.

A few years ago we had a couple of box turtles named Ike & Tina turtle. Anyway they use to love to eat night-crawler worms. My wife was leaving for work and she saw a big one on the walkway being attacked by a very small centipede. She grabbed the worm which was still very alive and fed it to one of the turtles. A few days later I noticed a odd nasty smell in the house and found Tina turtle dead and bloated in their tank. All we can figure is there must have been enough venom from the centipede in the worm to kill the turtle.

She felt really bad and didn't even think something like that would happen and we could be 
wrong about the venom but most likely that's what did it.  
Ike turtle ended up getting out of the house some how and disappeared into the yard (6acres) never to be seen again, there is a good chance he is still alive and happy in the woods.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Love the names. Ike and Tina Turtle. That's great. 
I have two turtles. My husband thought I should name one of them Shelly. 
No! :roll:


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## pack-rat (Aug 2, 2010)

Years ago I found a small jumping spider in the house and like I did with small insects that I found I just tossed it in the community tank. A molly swallowed the spider in a split second and all seemed good. The next morning the molly was dead. I don't throw spiders in my tanks any more. 

Ants as a group are generally venomous as I understand it (they sting with varying amounts of venom depending on the species). I would think that an ant swallowed by a fish would be ok as long as the fish didn't get stung by a large number of ants. The poison should be safe in the digestive tract but is a problem injected into tissue.


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