When night came, and the mists blew through the lands, I felt such joy to see that our
Ember Islands, along with the various life forms within it, were coming together beautifully
and better than I ever imagined.
But now I had just one question.
How would the colony deal with their new weather system?
Phoenix Empire’s first rain storm coming in 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1.
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Rumour had it that a great storm was brewing in the skies of the Ember Islands, this vast
new floating mountains paludarium, kingdom of the Phoenix Empire, the name given to these
young, hard working yet largely inexperienced colony of fire ants, and rumour had it that
the oncoming storm would be unlike anything they’d ever experienced before, a tempest
of great fury, winds, and water.
But the question was: how would these fire ants react to their first rain storm?
Would they manage it well, or will they have mass casualties and have to add more corpses
to their colony graveyard here?
Well, AC Family, I was set to find out, once the simulated rains from the automatic irrigation
system were set off.
These fire ants don’t know it yet, but they’re about to experience the storm of their lives,
and also, little did I know, the fire ants would surprise me with an innate capability
that even I had no idea fire ants could actually do!
All this, after the storm made landfall in the Ember Islands in T-minus 3 hrs.
As a water creature in the Ember Islands, it was pretty normal to look up and see this
peculiar mass floating above you.
A living raft of fire ants.
Now, if you live in places like the south of USA, you’re well aware of how fire ants
can do this.
Fire ants have this amazing ability to float on the water, and these Phoenix Empire workers
are no exception!
I’m not sure how these floating rafts form or why, but I have found this to be a very
common behaviour in fire ants.
Perhaps they simply fall in individually, then come together to form groups, and then
large masses like this, or perhaps they simply jump in willingly.
Either way, I find it kind of funny watching the currents blow them all around until they
actually hit land somewhere.
Perhaps fire ants use waterways to help them travel to new lands?
I wouldn’t put it past them, as fire ants, as we’ve seen on this channel in the past,
are clearly adapted well to life around water.
By the way for those of you with pet ants, I do not recommend you try a setup like this,
as most non-tropical terrestrial ants will drown.
Fire ants like these are a tropical species, and in the tropics where torrential rain storms
can hit for months on end, being able to float is definitely a must for survival, but little
did I know, after their first soon-to-come rain storm, the ants were going to show me
they were capable of much more than I thought, and I would be capturing this unexpected but
cool capability in this video.
Now even if I wasn’t too worried about these floating ants, I still empathized for them
and couldn’t help but drop in a stick to save them.
Not sure if they wanted or needed to be saved, but I often did it just in case.
It was somehow both reassuring and satisfying to watch them crawl up the stick and onto
terra firma!
Tell me the truth guys, would you have done what I did, and stuck in sticks to save the
floating ants?
Or would you have just let nature take its course?
I’m sometimes divided on whether or not I should interfere in these kinds of situations.
Personally, I think they’re happy about the sticks conveniently appearing out of nowhere.
But then an ominous movement caught my eye.
A beast below the waters.
OMG imagine being one of these ants and seeing this huge, blue water creature looming beneath
you?
Terrifying!
I’d be up that stick in 0.2 seconds!
It’s our resident Betta.
I placed him in here, in hopes that he’d possibly eat any mosquito larvae which we
saw appearing in a previous video.
But thankfully for the ants, he’s not too interested in eating them.
He is however very busy actively hunting for other creatures that live in these waters,
creatures I’ll be showing you shortly.
By the way, guys, this Betta needs an official name, so check my pinned comment on this video
and to cast your vote for a name simply hit the LIKE button on the name option or options
(you can choose more than one if you can’t decide on just 1) that you vote for.
The name options I chose were suggested by you guys in a previous video.
As for the other species of fish that live here, the chili rasboras, they also patrol
the waters in search of the same creatures the Betta is looking for, and aren’t too
interested in the ants either.
They used to swim in one massive school when they were first moved in here, but now that
they’re much more secure and familiar with these waters, they mostly come together in
loose schools of about four or five to hunt, if not swimming around solo.
I just love how healthy and vibrant red they are now.
They also need a name so be sure to LIKE the name option or options that you vote for,
also listed in the pinned comment of this video.
So, about the creatures our fish are hunting for, the way I discovered them was through
the introduction of two new water creatures, which I added to the waters the day before.
Meet our two new snails!
As mentioned in a previous video, I was set to add a couple Clithon corona snails, yes,
“corona” snails, who get their name from the spikes on their shell which look like
a crown.
So guys, as usual, these two snails will also need names, (we name everything on this channel,
right?), so do feel free to leave your name suggestions in the comments, and the AC Senate
will choose a Top 5 for all of us to vote on together in a future video.
The AC Senate by the way, guys are a special team of channel supporters that have special
rights, inside information, and perks on this channel.
You’ll see who the AC Senate members are among you in the comments, as they sport badges
with various colours next to their names.
Do be sure to greet and honour these highly dignified members of the AC Family.
A simple “BOW” would do.
You can click here to learn more about joining the great AC Senate.
I placed the corona snails into the waters, and watched them slowly disappear into the
masses of moss below.
Now I deliberately allowed a large patch of algae to grow on the glass so I could show
you guys just how awesome they are at algae-eating.
Check out the clear path it ate through that carpet of green algae.
They’re truly some of the best algae eaters available in the aquarium trade, and I highly
recommend them for any freshwater tank especially if you may be struggling with algae.
I use them in my main fish tank and they are super thorough!
Look at all that algae poop it excreted!
I can’t believe it ate and processed all this algae overnight!
Oop!
Looks like a tank mate has come along to check out the new snail.
Of course, almost equally as great at eating up algae are these amano shrimp!
They have been super thorough at keeping all the moss of the pool, algae-free.
They also have been quite amazing at finding and eating decaying matter that the ants drop
into the waters, as you can see here, and if I were to guess, they probably nibble on
dead ants, too.
Some of them have begun to adopt a mottled brownish colour due to all the various things
they’ve been eating in these waters.
Again, guys, like the betta and the rasboras, please VOTE for the official name of these
amano shrimp in the pinned comment by hitting LIKE on your favourite option or options.
Now, have a look closely at this sheet of algae on the glass.
This is where I discovered what our fish were hunting.
With a closer inspection, see all those little white specks of various sizes.
Some of them are even moving.
They’re small water creatures, water fleas and the like, that feed on algae, mosses,
tiny nutrients, and decaying matter in the water.
I also see a lot of these peculiar little bugs that seem to skate quite well on the
water’s surface!
It’s clear that these waters have had time to mature and develop a very rich biodiverse
set of microorganisms and water creatures, which have become an excellent food source
for our betta and rasboras.
In fact, AC Family, you’ll love this!
Check this out!
An amazing biological cycle already exists in these waters.
Small particles of ant garbage, as well as decaying matter like fungus from our fungal
waterfall, which by the way, also needs a name so VOTE for it in the pinned comment,
end up floating around and being carried by the water’s currents.
And then the fibrous mosses help filter and capture these particles, trapping them in
their leaves.
The mosses also manage to filter any dead ants dumped into the water.
The nutrient-rich particles then go on to nourish the moss, provide valuable food for
the microscopic creatures, as well as the shrimp, who pick the mosses clean of this
edible debris.
The fattened microscopic creatures then go on to feed our betta and rasboras.
Algae as we’ve seen naturally grows, as well, providing nutrition for our snails,
shrimp, and microorganisms.
I also believe the moss appears to be dense enough for the microorganisms to hide from
their predators, allowing them to breed at a high enough rate that they won’t be eaten
to extinction.
It’s truly an amazing symbiotic system that’s evolved here in these waters, and though I
do feed the fish and shrimp, additional pellets and flakes, for the most part, these waters
are very much so self-feeding.
Moving on now to land.
The rains are set to make landfall in 1 hour.
I watched as the ants were moving brood to a new area of the rock shelf.
I was certain that there was an established nest somewhere inside the rock shelf, suitable
enough for brood storage now and possibly the queen.
Perhaps they found a cavern we couldn’t see somewhere, or an open pvc pipe as you
might have seen in the previous video.
But, as I watched them going about their business, I was a bit nervous for them.
The fire ants were about to be hit with the greatest storm of their lives.
10 minutes before the storm, I gave the ants their first roach on the rock shelf.
The ants came swarming and were distracted by all the roach meat, and then, the skies
of the Ember Islands began to rumble.
AC Family, the great storm had finally arrived.
I watched wide eyed as thick blasts of water pelted the floating mountains and all the
exposed ants of the Phoenix Empire.
I couldn’t imagine what this must’ve felt like, but I knew in theory, they should have
been able to handle this tempest.
And then, the rain stopped.
I checked the ants to see how they were.
And it looked to me like they were fine!
Just a little wet, and as expected they handled it like champs!
Thank goodness.
But now, AC Family, at the beginning of this video, I mentioned that the fire ants showed
me something totally amazing that I had no idea they could do, an ability that I hadn’t
even seen my former fire ant colony, the Fire Nation do.
Check this out, guys!
The next day, their cockroach meal had been finished, but their other cockroach I placed
into one of the mountains the day before had somehow ended up in the water.
Perhaps they carried it there or were carrying it to their nest when the storm blew through
and it ended up in the waters.
Whatever the case, I found it pretty cool that the fire ants were still feeding on it,
even if it was partially submerged.
Can’t waste a single bit of meat right?
Well, I also noticed something else pretty amazing.
Have a look!
Looking just below the water’s surface, I was thrilled to discover that a shrimp was
also feeding from the roach from below.
How nice of them to share!
And then, that’s when I saw something totally crazy!
Look!
The ants were diving under water!
See them?!
They move so well underwater, too!
We all know that fire ants can float, but did you guys know they can actually move around
underwater?
This was the first time I’d ever seen this in fire ants!
And also, check out this ant that has brought down a bubble of air with it, as it climbed
around the mosses.
Scuba diving fire ants?
How interesting!
Well, guess you learn something new every day, and though I’ve been keeping ants for
years now, they never cease to surprise or amaze me.
How about you?
So, it looks like today, the Phoenix Empire showed us that fire isn’t always put out
by water.
These ants have shown us that evolution has truly crafted them into some exquisitely adaptive
and versatile organisms, perfectly suited to their wet and in this case, amphibious
environment.
I mean, the ants dive!
This will forever blow my mind!
You know, whenever I feel sad at all the terrible and imperfect things happening in our world
today, I visit our Phoenix Empire, and witness the various things of nature that are amazing
and perfect, and it’s enough to remind me that there’s lots of beauty in this world
to look forward to and nurture.
I just love sharing it all with you guys each week.
I feel so happy seeing our beloved little world, the Ember Islands, this fantastic archipelago
of floating mountains, we created together, truly thriving, with all its amazing, interdependent
inhabitants.
I believe the Phoenix Empire will do really well in this new kingdom, and I bet if they
could thank us for making it for them, they would!
Thank you for watching and supporting the ants.
I’ll see you guys again next week.
It’s ant love forever.
Now about the Golden Empire...
AC Family, did you enjoy today’s episode?
Now that the Phoenix Empire has settled in nicely into their Ember Islands, a lot of
you have been requesting an update on our yellow crazy ants, the Golden Empire!
I have some good news and some bad news regarding these ants, but I am planning a new yellow
crazy ant home, equally as epic as the Ember Islands, and of course want all of you guys
to VOTE again on the paludarium design.
You don’t want to miss out on this golden journey on some of the most amazing ants of
our Antiverse, so if you haven’t yet, do SMASH that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON
now, and hit ALL so you get notified at every upload.
Also don’t forget to hit the LIKE button every single time including now.
It would really mean a lot to me, guys.
Thank you!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here, if you would like to see extended
play footage of the fire ants and shrimp sharing their roach meal.
Do check it out!
And guys, did you know that it’s anting season in the Northern Hemisphere, and you
don’t even need to leave your home to start an ant colony?!
You can catch pregnant queen ants from the safety of your own backyard, balcony, or open
window starting this month!
Be sure to visit AntsCanada.com for all your ant keeping and collecting gear shipped to
you in a special package from our ant-loving facility in the USA, so you can get the most
out of your ant keeping experience.
We ship worldwide and also offer full email support if you need our help!
We also have a helpful forum and ant colony trading marketplace on the site.
Visit AntsCanada.com today.
And now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week.
Last week, we asked:
Name one thing growing in the Ember Islands that we didn’t expect.
Congratulations to LIT_ FL4ME who answered:
Moss
Congratulations LIT_ FL4ME, you just won a free Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook from our
shop!
In this week’s AC Question of the Week we ask:
What is giving our shrimp their new colour?
Leave your answer in the comments section and you could also win a free Ultimate Ant
Keeping Handbook from our shop!
Hope you could subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST.
Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video, to help
us keep making more.
It’s ant love forever!