ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Jay2slow]

hi, i have a colony of Camponotus ligniperda about 200 ants, and when i put food in they dont seem very aggresive to it they take a small bite and leave it, where as when i had my Lasius niger colony they would hunt their food down and kill it in no time, does anyone know an ant species that is aggresive and uses a lot of ants to bring down their food, cheers

[MorbidMike]

This really does depend on the colony size, smaller colonies are not agressive and rather prudent when fighting while large colonies will be very agressive. It also depends on temperature... higher temperature means more agressive ants. I also find that if I haven't fed my ants any prey for like 4-5 days (happens when I am not at home) that they are also much more agressive.

I personally really like Formica sanguinea for their agressivity. When I give them a live cricket (I usually incapacitate the hind legs so the cricket won't launch ants out of the arena), usually one ant spots it, attacks it and goes back to the nest to get more ants, and soon the cricket is swarmed with ants. Downside is that they squirt a LOT of poison when giving them living prey, sometimes the whole chamber smells like acid if I give them 3-4 crickets at the same time. So usually I just kill the crickets.

I also find that Myrmica rubra is quite agressive towards prey, but I prefer F. sanguinea because they are bigger and I just like the looks of Formicinae more than those of Myrmeciinae.

I also have F. fusca but they are less agressive in my opinion. My other experiences are L. niger and L. flavus, and L. niger is indeed very agressive but I would not suggest L. flavus, I found them pretty lame...

[Phasmid]

My Camponotus ligniperda colony will chase down prey if they are hungry, but at this time of year they are not.

[damondeionno]

Pheidole pallidula are extremely aggressive for their size.

Often I'll stun flies. Big ones. If you let a few ants get a grip, they won't let go. The flies are maybe 100+ times the mass of the ants, but eventually the ants will 'ball' the fly to bring it down - even if the fly wakes up after a few seconds and starts to buzz. They seem to know to grip one another as well as the fly. This acts as a weight to pin the fly, even if the ants only have hold of a few legs.

The recruitment response of P. pallidula is also among the fastest I have ever seen.

[SteveUK28]

I think my Myrmica rubra are seriously agressive, as are Pheidole pallidula, and also my Cataglyphis velox they will run after prey. Mostly i kill the crickets tho.