Colony Flow Level 1040 Walkthrough Solution & Guides | How to solve Colony Flow 1040
Guide By Liam Stone
Updated on August 12, 2026
The article below goes step by step through Level 1040, but the video above shows the same thing faster.

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Colony Flow Level 1040 brings a massive pixel art octopus to your screen. You will need to carefully guide your ant colony to eat through the colorful tentacles and ocean background. The layout demands patience because the colors intertwine deeply across the board. Take this slowly to avoid filling your waiting slots and ruining your run.
Colony Flow Level 1040 Overview
What You Are Working With
Colony Flow Level 1040 presents a beautifully detailed pixel art image of a giant octopus floating in the ocean. The octopus dominates the center of the board with a massive dark red and bright red head. Thick tentacles stretch outward and downward painted in shades of red dark purple and bright pink. The tentacles end in vibrant orange tips near the bottom corners of the board. A single piercing green eye sits near the center of the octopus giving it a striking look. The background consists of a two tone ocean split between light blue tiles and dark blue tiles. At the bottom of the screen your tray holds a massive pile of numbered colored blocks. You will use red dark red blue light blue dark purple pink orange green and white blocks to feed your ants. This level also introduces two special mechanics that you must handle correctly. You will encounter Connected Boxes where a green block and a white block are linked together by a thick line. You will also deal with the Lock and Key mechanic. A gold lock sits firmly on one of the connected tray blocks and you must retrieve a key from the board before you can move it.
What It Takes to Clear Level 1040 Board
Winning this level requires excellent path management and careful timing. The ants emerge from a single nest hole at the bottom center of the board and they need clear open routes to reach their target colors. The lower tentacles completely block the ants from reaching the main octopus body and the upper ocean background. You must systematically dismantle the bottom corners first to create marching lanes up the left and right sides. Your ultimate challenge is managing the five waiting slots located just above the tray. If you pull five blocks into those slots and the ants cannot reach the matching food tiles on the board the game ends immediately. You lose the level if those slots jam. Every decision you make must prioritize keeping at least one active route open. You must read the board ahead of time and only pull colors that sit directly on the exposed edges of the pixel art.
Colony Flow Level 1040 Step by Step Solution
Step 1: Open the bottom left corner to create a marching lane for your ants
You must begin by tackling the immediate barriers directly above the nest hole on the left side. Tap the light blue blocks and the red blocks from the top layer of your tray. The colony of ants will quickly stream out from the nest hole and attack the bottom left corner of the ocean background. They will also chew through the lowest hanging red tentacles. Watch the numbers on the blocks in your waiting slots count down as the ants consume the food tiles. You must wait for these initial blocks to completely disappear before you pull any other colors. Clearing this specific corner provides a crucial marching lane for your ants to reach the mid level colors later.
Step 2: Target the lower left dark purple segments to clear the left side obstacles
With the bottom left corner partially clear a new layer of dark purple tentacles is now exposed. Look for the dark purple numbered blocks in your tray and move them up into the waiting slots. The ants will march up the newly created path on the left and begin dismantling the dark purple sections. You will also notice several pink tiles mixed into these lower tentacles. Tap a pink block from the tray to keep multiple lines of ants moving simultaneously. Sending ants to both the dark purple and pink tiles ensures your waiting slots empty out rapidly. You avoid jamming the slots because the ants have unobstructed access to both colors.
Step 3: Clear the lower right orange tentacles to expose the ocean background
The left side paths are looking good so you must turn your focus to the bottom right area of the board. The tentacles on this side end in bright orange tips that block access to the ocean tiles behind them. Find an orange block in your tray and send it up to the waiting area. A fresh group of ants will emerge and form a long trail heading right to begin eating the orange sections. You will likely need to use multiple orange blocks to completely strip away the lower right tentacles. Always wait for the first orange block to finish its countdown before you tap the next one. This steady pacing keeps your slot management completely safe.
Step 4: Collect the hidden key to remove the lock from the connected tray blocks
You have a group of Connected Boxes sitting in your tray that you cannot use yet. A white block and a green block are linked together and the white block features a heavy gold lock. You cannot pull these linked blocks until you collect the key from the board. The key is hidden among the thick red and dark red tiles making up the lower central body of the octopus. Tap the red blocks and dark red blocks to send your ants into the center. As the ants consume the red food tiles they will eventually uncover and grab the key. The gold lock on the tray block will instantly disappear once the key is collected.
Step 5: Deploy the connected white and green blocks to consume the octopus eye
Now that the lock is gone you can safely activate the Connected Boxes. Tap the unlocked white block and the attached green block will automatically follow it into your waiting slots. Since you cleared the lower tentacles the ants now have clear paths running up the sides of the board. A group of ants will rush up to clear the white border tiles located near the top. Simultaneously another team of ants will march straight toward the center of the octopus head to attack the green eye. The connected green block holds the exact number required to eat the entire eye. Finishing this step removes a major central obstacle and grants access to the upper head.
Step 6: Dismantle the massive dark red head while keeping the main side paths open
The main body and the upper head of the octopus are fully exposed and ready to be cleared. You possess clear marching lanes wrapping all the way around the left and right sides of the pixel art. Tap the large dark red blocks in your tray and send them to the waiting area. The ants will swarm the top central portion of the board and consume the massive dark red sections. You will need to pull two or three dark red blocks in a row to entirely finish the head. Keep a close watch on your available tray options and only pull the next block when the previous one is nearly empty. The ants require a continuous uninterrupted flow of open movement to eat the entire head efficiently without causing a backup.
Step 7: Clean up the remaining dark purple details using the long side routes
After the massive head is gone you will see a few dark purple tiles remaining scattered around the upper edges. Pull the remaining dark purple blocks from your tray into the waiting slots. The ants will travel up the long side paths to clean up these small isolated sections. You must be incredibly careful during this phase because these distant tiles take longer for the ants to reach. The travel time means the blocks sit in your waiting slots much longer. Do not tap any other colors while the ants are making this long march. Let the dark purple blocks completely empty out of your slots first. Patience here is absolutely vital to avoid a frustrating late game loss.
Step 8: Clear the right side blue ocean background to finish the final remaining tiles
You are now looking at a mostly empty board with just a cluster of light blue and dark blue ocean tiles on the right side. Your tray holds the final blue and light blue numbered blocks. Tap the light blue blocks first to send your ants up the right side path. They will eat away the edges of the remaining water background. Once the light blue blocks clear you can tap the dark blue blocks to finish the job. The ants will consume the final remaining food tiles at the very top right corner. The board is fully cleared and your ants will happily return to their nest hole.
Final Thought
Managing the paths and waiting slots perfectly is the real secret to beating this level. You must stay patient and let your ants finish their long marches before pulling new colors. If any of the movements described above feel hard to picture just watch the video above this article. Seeing the exact timing of the connected blocks and the lock mechanic in motion makes the strategy perfectly clear.



