Fruitflys

[livebearer_breeder]

So I ordered some wingless fruitlfys from hollywoods and now i want to culture them, anyone have any successful methods other than what ive already read online? Also i have no idea where to buy the mesh for the top of the lids and am currently trying a oats medium similar to microworms.

[F15hguy]

try a sewing store for the mesh

[alanmin4304]

I use plastic screw top containers with a hole cut in the top and the lid screwed down over fine curtain netting available from the likes of spotlight.

Breeding fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster)

As with most things in fish keeping there are a lot of ways to do things. This includes breeding fruit flies and the right way to do it is the way that works for you. Here is an explanation of the way that I do it.

I get screw topped jars from the plastic wholesalers shop as they seem to recycle a lot longer than the ones you buy from the pet shop and punch holes in the lid so they can breath (best done when the lid is warm so it does not split). Fine curtain fabric is placed under the lid to keep the flies in the container.

The recipe for the media has some strange measurements as it has been converted from American measurements to grams and the flies don't seem to mind.

Mix the following as a dry powder and store in a preserving jar or airtight container until required.

Sugar 284 grams

Wheat or rice starch 86 grams

Samolena 114 grams

Dry brewers yeast 86 grams

Agar agar 60 grams

Methyl Paraben 3 grams

Agar agar can be purchased from an Asian Wholesaler as it is used to make jellies for Chinese New Year and is in convenient sachets. They are a few dollars each and seem to vary from about 7 to 30 grams for a similar price so look around.

Methyl paraben is methyl hydroxybenzoate and is available through your local chemist. It is about forty odd dollars for 100 grams but goes a long way. Get the chemist to take two small containers that are the same and weigh 3 grams into one. When you make up the mix just fill the other one to the same level. Make sure you retain the original.This may be replaced with about a teaspoon of sodium benzoate from the home brew shop.

Brewers yeast is available in bulk from binn inn

Take 85 grams of the mix and add 225 grams of cold water and stir continuously over low heat until it thickens to the consistency of runny porridge. Pour into empty containers (will do 2-4) and allow to cool and solidify. The excess moisture that forms on the inside can be wiped off with a paper towel when cooled. You will need to make sure the inside has no excess moisture or the flies don't survive and breed. They will dry by themselves if left and will still be OK so long as you don't dry them out too much.

When cool and dry add flies. I find it best to add newly hatched ones as they seem to breed better. Place in a warm place and wait. They will breed OK at about 20 degrees C . If kept too warm (late 20s plus) they will reproduce quicker but will also grow wings and be a right pain.

The maggots are white, then form an amber coloured chrysalis which becomes almost black when the flies are about to hatch. The more flies you start with the more you will breed.

You can feed out the flies you have used to start the colony after they have been in there about a week. Or you can leave them to hopefully lay more eggs.

What are you feeding?

[livebearer_breeder]

Thanks dude, appreciate that, complex amount of stuff needed, was hoping it was simple.

Feeding fish but mainly frogs.

[livebearer_breeder]

Gonna try this:

8 bananas

1/4 cup sugar

rolled oats (oatmeal)

1 packet bakers yeast

Put banana and sugar in blender and mix until the banana is liquified. Mix in oatmeal until it becomes firm, but still moist. Put mixture in wide mouth quart canning jars. Add a few granules of bakers yeast to the surface and add about 30 fruit flies. Cap the jars with a paper towel folded in fourths held on with a rubber band. Substitution with other types of fruit also works.

Variation, use the following ingredients:

1 cup banana (about 2 bananas)

1 cup apple sauce

1 Tablespoon vinegar

2 cups oat meal

[F15hguy]

sounds complicated isn't ...

reworded into leyman.....

large amount of rotting fruit...

container that they can't escape from.

sorted.....

99% of the time ppl are asking how to get rid of them, forget the fact they are wingless and treat them like regular fruit flys

you don't want to discriminate do you????

[repto]

rotting fruit may attract them(pretty hard for the wingless ones they have to walk everywhere??)but to mantain a replenishing,harvestable population is a bit more work?

[Rabbit]

I had large amounts in my micro worm cultures, simply yeast bread and water. If you where to mash the bread or add banana it should be fine enough to work with.

[alanmin4304]

The mixture I use was taken (and altered slightly) from the formulae used to culture the drosophila at canterbury university, where I scored my first ones many moons ago. The advantage is that if you get the formulae right you can turn a new container upside down on to a full one and the flies will crawl up in to it and leave the rubbish behind. Once you have made a batch of the dry mix up it will store for years in a sealed container and it is easy to make up a bit of mix as required. It is similar to that used by biosuppliers.