# Culturing Hydei on Melo. Media



## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

Hello,
I use Josh's Frogs melo. media to culture my melos and I'd like to start culturing Hydei now too. Can I culture the hydei on with the melo. media? I have done some searching as saw this thread, which states hydei need more protein in their media - is there something I can add to the melo. media to give it more protein? Also I saw this quote from Josh himself back in 2005:



> I've heard that you need a different media for hydei, but I culture mine with the same media as my mels. They do take a little longer, but I never keep track of how long, so I can't say how long.
> 
> They are heavier and bigger than mels which leads to a couple of things:
> -it takes less of them to take up the available floor space. I believe this is what leads people to say that they don't produce as much as mels. I disagree. I think you get the same volume, but less flies because they are so big.
> ...


So, can I use the melo. media to culture the hydei? I'm really not looking to spend money on the hydei media they offer unless I have to. Thanks in advance.


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## tachikoma (Apr 16, 2009)

Mitch said:


> Hello,
> I use Josh's Frogs melo. media to culture my melos and I'd like to start culturing Hydei now too. Can I culture the hydei on with the melo. media? I have done some searching as saw this thread, which states hydei need more protein in their media - is there something I can add to the melo. media to give it more protein? Also I saw this quote from Josh himself back in 2005:
> 
> 
> ...


I have used melo media to culture both with no problems. I have also used hydei media to culture both with no problems. Maybe one works better than the others as far as efficiency but in my practical use I have not noticed much of a difference, not that I was particularly looking for one.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Hydei will grow on JoshsFrogs melanogaster fruit fly media. They will not do quite as well as they would on JoshsFrogs hydei fruit fly media, but it will work.


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## Arizona Tropicals (Feb 15, 2010)

We use the same media for both and they produce exactly as they should, however, due to the size difference (the fruit flies) we use 1/2 cup of media in our Melanogaster cultures and 1 cup of media in our Hydei. Other then that, no difference or real need to purchase different mixes.


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## Arizona Tropicals (Feb 15, 2010)

BTW: If you really want to add some additional protein to your Hydei mix, pick up some brewers yeast and add a little more to your media.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Arizona Tropicals said:


> BTW: If you really want to add some additional protein to your Hydei mix, pick up some brewers yeast and add a little more to your media.


Beat me to it! Many recipes use about 1 cup of yeast in an 8 cup batch. So if you make a 1/2 cup culture, that's 8 tablespoons. So adding an extra tablespoon would double the yeast in most recipes. That might be overkill, I'd think a teaspoon or so would give you a nice extra "shot" of protein.
Doug


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

Thanks for the input guys. I'll try adding a little extra yeast to the media for each culture to add more protein. If production isn't great I'll try out the hydei media.


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