Continuing a fruit fly culture?

[JoeCapricorn]

I have a D. melanogaster fruit fly culture that has been going really strong lately. I got it back around December 18. I was wondering if I could add some new source of food and humidity that would enable this fruit fly culture to last even longer. Perhaps some potato? I'm kinda confused about this.

Also, I'm thinking about trying to expand a D. hydei culture. I have an old FF culture that has been long dormant or dead, perhaps I could clean that one out and find some suitable medium to fill the jar in and place the vial of D. hydei in every once in a while to see if they mate and lay eggs and have babies. Any tips? o.o

 

[PhilinYuma]

I have a D. melanogaster fruit fly culture that has been going really strong lately. I got it back around December 18. I was wondering if I could add some new source of food and humidity that would enable this fruit fly culture to last even longer. Perhaps some potato? I'm kinda confused about this.Also, I'm thinking about trying to expand a D. hydei culture. I have an old FF culture that has been long dormant or dead, perhaps I could clean that one out and find some suitable medium to fill the jar in and place the vial of D. hydei in every once in a while to see if they mate and lay eggs and have babies. Any tips? o.o

There are a cuppla ways to go, Joseph. The first is to follow Orin's potato-flake medium instructions at the beginning of this forum. If you have a sense of humor, you can follow the masa flour thread and make cultures that look more like a three course meal, complete with apples, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, two kinds of yeast and more good things than I can think of right now.

An easier alternative is to buy ready made mix. Carolina Biological Supply have a web site. The potato flake medium is reasonably priced, contains a mold-resistant additive, and gives good results right out of the bag. It's a bit hard to find, so use the catalog # DH-173200 to find a 1L bag which conatins a packet of active dry yeast. I have noted Carolina's weird math in the past. A 4L bag with blue coloring costs $19.95, and a carton of 4 4L bags costs $89.95. Go figure.

If you prefer the good old oatmeal variety of food, you can get three types from Joe's Frogs, "all purpose" and D. hydei & D. melanogaster specific. I have tried all three and find that the cheaper, all purpose mix works fine. They all come with Paraben added, and Joe sells it separately as well.

Good luck, and BTW, what instar of what species are you feeding the mels to?

 

[kamakiri]

I recommend the mixes that phil notes above. I've used them all in some form, but the easiest for me has been the carolina biological mix.

In a pinch though, I would use potato flakes, same volume of water, and a tablespoon of vinegar per cup of the flakes.

I have added media to existing cultures, but it is tricky. First I add the dry media. Then let all the live flies that got buried crawl out of the media. Then *slowly* wet the media with a spray bottle with mist. Tap the container while doing this to keep the remaining flies from crawling out. If you spray too fast you may kill too many flies. I don't recommend doing this...but it has worked for me in the past when I've been lazy!

The other method I have used is to just drop some of the new (wet) media in...just tapping the flies to one side of the container first and then dropping the new media on the other side. Usually makes more of a mess and kills some of the flies at the mix settles.

Good luck, and please report your results!

 

[Opivy]

The guy who's experienced with mantids at my local pet store told me just to use potato flakes, water, and brewers yeast. I bought a culture from him a while back and it seemed pretty good - but reading other recipes it seems a little too simple.

 

[Rick]

You make new cultures from your old ones. I prefer the commercial mediums with the added mold inhibitor. Just take another container add the medium, pinch of yeast, and add some flies from the old cultures. Once you get the timing down you should have a continuous supply of flies.

 

[ismart]

As everyone else has stated. The comercial medium from Carolina.com is great! I have been using it for years with great results. You can buy it in large quanties, and it lasts for a very long time.

 

[massaman]

I just use the simple potato flake method and buy all the ingredients when I am low on my cultures and they keep producing for longer periods of time and keep adding more medium as it dries up or runs low and my nymphs never go hungry for too long this way!