help with a fruit fly culture
- Thread starter arm2010
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What kind is it? Is it a small round vial or a large deli cup? Either way it's about the same. It should last a few weeks at most. I have about 10 vials going at a time. Every few weeks I have to clean them out and transfer the remaining flys to newly started vials. You can buy all the supplies from www.carolina.com
Yeah they should be replaced to a new culture every couple weeks since BIG cultures will attrached mites. Mites do damage to fruit flies. That is what I was told by carolina and I read it in one of their books that come with a fruit fly culture when you purchase a culture.
Hi there, the culture should produce thousand and generation of flies. Keep them at around 70-80F and do not add more media or water on it. If you see mold or mites in the culture, it is best to replace it with a new culture with completely new fruit flies. I was told that mites kill the larvae/maggots and destroy the culture. As what Rick suggested, if you have mite problem, get the mite paper from www. carolina.com.
All depends on the size of your culture. They all pretty much die out in a few weeks. I currently keep flies in 32 oz deli cups and I also have about 20 vials of them going. The medium will dry out or get used up by the fly larvae.
Yes I know they are fast to reproduce. They get large in numbers in a couple weeks and within about three weeks they culture is almost doneand will stop producing flies. I have to redo them every few weeks.
You can buy a new culture, you can buy the dry media to make new cultures with the flies you already have, or you can search the internet fot home made recipes and try to find a good mold inhibitor to make your own media. We sell a dry media, but its not on the website or advertised anywhere just yet.
