Your own fruit fly meduim ingredients?

[Mike]

Hi just want to know what you all use for your fruit fly cultures and how long your mixtures last for?

 

[infinity]

My lab uses a medium similar to the *2-acid* medium - it's dead easy to make and doesn't go off (or at least i've never seen it go off)

Cornmeal

dextrose

yeast

agar

methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate (fungicide)

http://flystocks.bio.indiana.edu/Fly_Work/...extrosefood.htm

dextrose is used so you don't have so much fermentation (might get your flies drunk)

A very very very very easy medium to make for flies is to simply add enough water to bakers yeast to make a thick gooey paste... sprinkle a bit of dry yeast on the top to stop the adults from sticking to it.

- A few drops of copper sulphate solution or the MHB mentioned above will stop the fungi

 

[Jay]

I have always used the recipe below and never added yeast to it. I add coloring to the medium so I can see the little larvae in the medium. I keep the unused amount in a container in the refrigerater for later use. I would half it to begin with. I raise my fruitflies in smaller Gatorade containers with thin cloth and a rubber band on top. I keep everything well sanitized and keep the containers in water to avoid mites and my fruitflies always seem to do just fine.

Recipe from http://www.anapsid.org/fruitfly.html

1 cup banana (about 2 bananas)

1 cup apple sauce

1 Tablespoon vinegar

2 cups oat meal