31 replies to this topic

[Foogoo]

I recently purchased a wingless fruit fly colony and I want to keep it going. One of the popular culture recipes I found involved some variation of instant mashed potato flakes and apple cidar vinegar. Seems simple enough. I mixed enough vinegar so the flakes were no longer "flaky" and it had the consistency of mashed potatoes.

 

I dumped some flies in and about 3/4 are stuck to the potato mix and look pretty dead. Was it too wet? Too much vinegar? I'd like to try old fruit but I'm not sure about keeping a rotting banana in my house...

[dermy]

You have to add something for them to climb on, so they don't drown.

[Gregory2455]

Try putting string into the culture, or something to climb on, so they do not get stuck and drown. I use string in my culture.

[Crystals]

Here is a post I once made on how to culture fruit flies: http://forum.formicu...g +fruit +flies

 

They need something to climb on.  I use little paper plates.

[123LordOfAnts123]

Sounds like it was way too wet. I use a commercial product, but I generally mix mine with enough water to get a moist, crumbly texture. Once larvae arrive, they quickly turn the medium into a slurry.

[Foogoo]

I put in a bunch of "egg crate" fluorescent light cover pieces I had, figuring they could climb up it. Although typing this out I just had the realization that they can't fly to get up the structure...

[drtrmiller]

I have a working, reusable fruit fly culture tube on Thingiverse.com that works with the same stuff I feed my ants.  I left one outside when it was cooler this spring, and ended up with wild fruit flies in it a few weeks later.  It will be available on Amazon, eventually.

[DesertAntz]

I need to get on my culture game soon if I expect my colonies to grow. Luckily I have some time before the need for lots of protein arises in my colonies.

[Mads]

I use any kind of fruit for the base mixture, then add some soymeal for protein. Some people recommend adding a bit of yeast, but I haven't seen any huge difference when adding or not adding any. You can use any number of things as climbing materials, basically anything you have handy. Coffee filters work quite well, as does plastic screening.

If you do add the soymeal, be sure to keep an eye on the culture. I have had population explosions where I had to add more substrate or even divide the culture in half, as there were too many maggots in it. They will then produce too much ammonia which will in turn kill the entire culture. If you want a "safer" fail proof method, just go with the traditional mixes.

Mads

[Foogoo]

Uh, do fruit flies have a pre-larval stage where they look a lot like mites? Or is my entire culture infected with mites ? Are parasitic mites the same ones that attack plants? Is it safe to dispose of my culture by feeding it to my carnivorous plants?? Or is it doomed??

[Gregory2455]

All cultures come with mites. It is a normal thing. However, these mites, like the maggots, feed on the substrate, and are not parasitic.

[Foogoo]

Whew! Thank you! I thought it was done for.

[Gregory2455]

Yeah, mine have them too.

Unless you see them attaching themselves to the flies, then they are not parasitic, and they only are eating the substrate.

[Alza]

so they don't kill ?

[Gregory2455]

No they are decomposers. There are mites that are parasitic to plants, animals, and then there are decomposers.

[Foogoo]

so they don't kill ?

 

Maybe only with their looks.

[Alza]

I've been feeding fruit flies to my ants, does that mean there are decomposers in their test tubes ?

[Gregory2455]

I've been feeding fruit flies to my ants, does that mean there are decomposers in their test tubes ?

Most likely not, because they do not grab a hold of the fruit flies, and they would probably have nothing to live off of.

[Alza]

true.

[Gregory2455]

By the way- here are the two species I am currently culturing.

 

Drosophila melanogaster (Wingless Variation):

 

Drosophilla hydei (Flightless Variation):