hey, i too have started a new colony. seems they will stay in the tube until it gets too small. that could take a year. mine have taken sand from their habitat and built 2 walls, one where the queen and eggs are and the second they have moved brood too

look on the bright side, you get a year of good viewing

i'd guess you could take them out when they emerge and put them in a big tank to mate and keep the new queen's? but that won't happen for a few years anyway. please do NOT let them fly off outside, adding foreign ants or even foreign sourced native ants to your native region could become a huge problem, like really big. besides that its against the law in most places anyway. - just look at florida and the burmese python problem.
for hydration, i have added a drinking straw down one side of the sand to the clay bottom, just add water from here when needed and top it with a bit of cotton wool to stop ants getting down there.
hope iv helped a bit
regards