how to start a fruit fly culture????
- Thread starter arowana man
- Start date
simple, you can trap your own or but them to get it started. Get a small enclosure and put your flies in it. Put in some banana, and let them do the work, they will lay their eggs, the small worms wil hatch then turn into flies. As for getting them out and not letting them all get away, that is where im not sure, but they are easy to re capure, just put some ripe banana in a small container, cover it in plastic wrap, and the cut a small quarter inch hole in the plastic wrap. They come by the droves. This is how i solved the fruit fly prob in my hous and accidentally bred them.
yup simple...
1. First you will need to prepare you culture vessels, pierce a small hole (5-10mm) in the lid of the vessel with a pencil or similar.
2. Break off a small amount of cotton wool and use it to bung the hole in the lid, this will provide ventilation for the flies but will stop escape.
3. Mash an old banana (the riper the better) into a pulp and spoon a 2cm layer into the bottom of your culture vessels, you may also use mashed potato flakes or a commercially produced Drosophila diet.
4. Sprinkle a small amount of dried bread making yeast over the banana.
5. Screw up a sheet of paper towel and place in the vessel this will provide the flies with dry area to perch and a place to hide.
6. You are now ready to introduce the flies; open your original culture and sprinkle a number of flies into the cup. You may need a friend to continuously tap the cup gently on the worktop to stop the flies from climbing back out.
7. Click the lid on firmly and ensure the hole in the lid is bunged.
8. Store the culture in a dark, well ventilated area, you will notice that after a few days the flies in the culture will die off, this nothing to worry about, the culture will be full of eggs, and if you look closely you may spot small maggots (often larger than the flies) in the banana.
9. When the culture starts to fill with flies start new cultures to keep a constant supply.
1. First you will need to prepare you culture vessels, pierce a small hole (5-10mm) in the lid of the vessel with a pencil or similar.
2. Break off a small amount of cotton wool and use it to bung the hole in the lid, this will provide ventilation for the flies but will stop escape.
3. Mash an old banana (the riper the better) into a pulp and spoon a 2cm layer into the bottom of your culture vessels, you may also use mashed potato flakes or a commercially produced Drosophila diet.
4. Sprinkle a small amount of dried bread making yeast over the banana.
5. Screw up a sheet of paper towel and place in the vessel this will provide the flies with dry area to perch and a place to hide.
6. You are now ready to introduce the flies; open your original culture and sprinkle a number of flies into the cup. You may need a friend to continuously tap the cup gently on the worktop to stop the flies from climbing back out.
7. Click the lid on firmly and ensure the hole in the lid is bunged.
8. Store the culture in a dark, well ventilated area, you will notice that after a few days the flies in the culture will die off, this nothing to worry about, the culture will be full of eggs, and if you look closely you may spot small maggots (often larger than the flies) in the banana.
9. When the culture starts to fill with flies start new cultures to keep a constant supply.
Ok here is my way.
I use flightless Drosophila melanogaster. Flightless is better than cathcing your own because then you dont have to worry about them flying out every time you open the culture.
I make my own media from potatoe flakes, brewers yeast, powdered sugar, methalyn paraben.( about 10$ and you can make enough media for roughly 20 cultures)
I mix 1/2 cup media with 50/50 vinegar and water. Add a pinch of active yeast and the excelsior. Add some fruit flies ( from an exsisting culture) and in about 7-10 day the culture will be booming with flies.
I use the 32 oz cultures cups.
when I got into dart about 3 years agao I bought a started culture once and have not had to buy FF since.
Please make sure you are able to keep the FF cultures going before you get the frogs. It sounds simple but some people take a little while toget the hang of it And little froglets the size of the ones you are getting need fed 2-3 times a day.
I use flightless Drosophila melanogaster. Flightless is better than cathcing your own because then you dont have to worry about them flying out every time you open the culture.
I make my own media from potatoe flakes, brewers yeast, powdered sugar, methalyn paraben.( about 10$ and you can make enough media for roughly 20 cultures)
I mix 1/2 cup media with 50/50 vinegar and water. Add a pinch of active yeast and the excelsior. Add some fruit flies ( from an exsisting culture) and in about 7-10 day the culture will be booming with flies.
I use the 32 oz cultures cups.
when I got into dart about 3 years agao I bought a started culture once and have not had to buy FF since.
Please make sure you are able to keep the FF cultures going before you get the frogs. It sounds simple but some people take a little while toget the hang of it And little froglets the size of the ones you are getting need fed 2-3 times a day.
if i want to catch some instead of buying them will this work. put a banana in my tree frog tank. will this luer them? or is it best to buy a starter culture? also are fruit flys good for tropical fish???
Leave little bits of fruit in a jar lid in your frog cage and the flies will start showing up pretty quickly. Use different kinds of fruit so your frogs get a variety of nutrients.
and they breed quick i use mine for my tropical fish and beared dragon you can get 500 flightless flies for 6 dollars on ebay and for 7 dollars you get 1 pound dry media with you use a 1 to 1 ratio water to mix so it goes a long way i use just centimers on the bottom. it will save you alot of time and money in the long run.