I am looking to start a small, indoor ant colony. It would be

This is the perfect time, go outside before it's too late! Pavement queens are the easiest to take care of but hard to identify their queens.

>>2398226
Define small. Most any colonies, even when they're highly developed, take up next to no space.

Also, you can't just put a colony in a tank. They need a formicarium of some sort.

>>2398248
Ten gallon-sized.
I was going to look up what the species needed after getting a species recommendation.

>>2398246
Pavement queens? What species is that? I see plenty of ant colonies in the cracks of pavement if that's what you are talking about. I see them having massive wars right now, don't know that I've seen any queens. What do they look like?

>>2398258
Well, as I said, ants can't just live in a tank. They'll need a proper setup.

And yes, the ants you're describing are pavement ants, Tetramorium sp. E. They aren't the only ants that live under pavement, but they are the primary ones that have the big "wars" each spring. They probably haven't flown yet in your area. Later this month or next month will probably be the best time. They'll fly when it's hot, 85+, and very humid. Low winds help too. It's easiest to find the queens running around on the ground at sunrise. If you have a pool, there's a high likelihood that queens will fall into it during their flights. They'll survive in water for much longer than you'd think, so you can scoop them up from there too.

When you put water on them and you put a lamp they leave the colony, after that you just have to find the queen

When you put water on them and you put a lamp they leave the colony, after that you just have to find the queen

>>2398682
>>2398690
This isn't a great strategy for starting a captive colony. Not only do wild caught colonies tend to fare poorly in captivity, but you have to catch a sizable portion of the workers and brood, otherwise the colony will likely fail.