culturing of Phorid flies

[Specimen24-7]

I have done it, I have intentionally cultured phorid flies from roaches corpse and feces or at least captured their larvae. I have explored the forum and I noticed that there isn't very much information on this concept. So, I will try to experiment on medium and how to keep a culture going. I will try to take photos and post my progress on this topic. Wish me luck :stuart:

 

[CosbyArt]

Indeed there isn't much as most keepers get flightless fruit flies.

I've cultured them but stopped once they ate through my commercial vented deli lid (the one with a bunch of small round holes), and started to pupate on top of it. Culturing them is easy and done the same as you would with fruit flies, and you will have more than you want in no time.

I found the easiest way to capture them in the wild is to use a deli cup full of watermelon (seems the watermelon will putrefy into their ideal habitat - and will not typically bother bananas, cantaloupe/muskmelon, or other fruits). For the deli cup lid use aluminum ventilation mesh to keep everything out but the phorids. Let the watermelon cup sit in the sun for about two days where it turns into putrid water really. At that point the phorids will go crazy for it, and when there are plenty inside switch lids on the deli cup with a typical fruit fly lid (fine mesh or coffee filter). That will trap the phorids and then you can take them inside and culture them.

A warning on phorids though is that they are actually a pest insect inside the home. Especially found in some restaurants and such due to all the food in the sinks/drains. As such any escapees from your cultures or during feeding times may quickly infest your home. In that regard so are wild fruit flies, with those usually cultured being flightless.

In deli cups the adult phorids will lay their eggs typically on the underside of the lid (see photo below). The adults will die off and about 2 weeks later, when you think nothing is happening, the eggs will hatch and absolutely cover the inside walls of the deli cup with larvae (see photo below).

A few things to watch out for is some species of phorid flies are parasitic, and can inject their eggs into other insects (mantids too). Also the flies run around and jump more than they fly (in a zig-zag pattern), and any that escape after feeding mantids will quickly become annoying. As such I can't recommend them, although they will work for a emergency feeding if you are out of fruit flies I've done it.

You can see photos of the phorid species, Megaselia scalaris, flies up-close that I cultured and comments at my topic here.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

I don't think that the phorid flies that infest drains are necessarily the same species that feed on roach corpses.

 

[Specimen24-7]

Thanks for the heads up and nice photos mines wont be as good as yours because I take photos with a old iPhone. I don't have a camera but I will try my best . I will be careful with the phorid flies.

 

[CosbyArt]

I don't think that the phorid flies that infest drains are necessarily the same species that feed on roach corpses.

I imagine you are right, I was just warning about the phorids in general. Heck there is even one, the so called coffin phorid fly (Conicera tibialis) that lives on dead human corpses (even underground for a decade or more once infested). I did however do some more investigating and the so called sink flies are not actually phorids so I updated my post.

Thanks for the heads up and nice photos mines wont be as good as yours because I take photos with a old iPhone. I don't have a camera but I will try my best . I will be careful with the phorid flies.

Your welcome, I just thought I'd show you my results of culturing them.

I didn't have a good camera for years either. From the photo topic of member papilio_, and talking with him a bit, I got a older Nikon D80 (10.2MP DSLR) and I am quite happy. It does what I want and more, just no video but it makes up for that with the internal motor to use nearly any Nikon lens with auto focus. I got it for under $200, and did some saving and sold my old hobby (Tesoro Outlaw metal detector and goodies) on ebay to cover it.

Sounds good, best of luck.