# can springtails be kept with fruit flies?



## Guest (Nov 20, 2006)

Hey,

Well, ive noticed that springtails eat mold and i guess im not adding enough mold inhibitor into my ff cultures or something, but they always seem to get somewhat moldy. Would it be alright if i added some springtails to the media ?




Thanks,
Ben


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## joeyo90 (Nov 5, 2006)

i have mold problems in my cultures a diff times of the year just use half viniger and half water when making them not sure if the springtails would live in there or not... theres one way to find out tho lol also im not sure they eat just any old mold im sure theres mold thats harmful to them but try it out and tell uss if it works you will probably have to put alot in to keep up with the growth of the mold tho because its generally pretty fast growing


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

I wanted to revive this one as I will be trying it out as an experiment to see if adding springtails at the beginning of the culture will extend its life---I will try this with both black and white springs. However, I am waiting to add the springs until the fruit fly larvae are just beginning to feed on the media since the springs may be competing with them for food. 

What could happen:

1) Mass die-off of springs due to vinegar content of FF media if they consume it
2) Springs could ignore media and instead eat mold only
3) Springs could consume both without effect and overpopulate FF container, leading to lower count of fruit flies overall. 

Who knows? We'll see...


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

If you have not yet done so, try culturing both hydei and melanogaster together. IME, this tends to result in little/no mold growth.


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## boabab95 (Nov 5, 2009)

zBrinks said:


> If you have not yet done so, try culturing both hydei and melanogaster together. IME, this tends to result in little/no mold growth.


HYBRIDS!!!!

haha sorry couln't resist.

I would like to see the results of springs and ff's. although, IMO, it's kind of a waste of springs, if you dont want mold, use a mold inhibator...


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## botanyboy03 (Apr 18, 2009)

zBrinks said:


> If you have not yet done so, try culturing both hydei and melanogaster together. IME, this tends to result in little/no mold growth.



Zach- I'd never heard of doing this before. It is an interesting idea. I only culture wingless melanos at the moment, but this idea is giving me something to think about. More details?

Zac


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

You just keep both species together. The melanos hatch out first, and the hydei larvae do a good job of keeping the media mixed until the next batch hatches out. It was a pretty common practice when I first got into frogs -I'm really not sure why you don't hear too much about it any more.


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

This is good info, but the OP is 5 years old haha.


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## botanyboy03 (Apr 18, 2009)

Mitch said:


> This is good info, but the OP is 5 years old haha.


Didn't notice that until now. Thanks for the info Zach.

Zac


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Meh, it's closer to 4 

I'd much rather someone dig up an old thread on the same topic than start a new one - I think it makes searching the threads much easier.


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## Evan Keller (Dec 4, 2008)

this sounds interesting. In my experience though, I have seen springtails actively pursuing fruit flies in my vivariums. Not sure if they would actually feed or harm the flies in the culture with that amount of food available, but then again I've never tried it.


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

boabab95 said:


> HYBRIDS!!!!
> 
> haha sorry couln't resist.
> 
> I would like to see the results of springs and ff's. although, IMO, it's kind of a waste of springs, if you dont want mold, use a mold inhibator...


Hey Mr. J. ...wait for it.... KALAMAZOO!!!

I don't see how it could be a waste of springs if they survive in the container and get shaken back out later as frog food... plus possibly populating in there too. 

A risk in this experiment is also introducing more mold spores with the springs than they can handle...but we'll see...


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

I finally got around to doing this now that I have extra cultures going. I added about 200 springs to a brand-new culture today. They started convulsing as soon as I added them (maybe b/c of the vinegar). We'll see how they're getting along tomorrow...


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## ryangreenway (Apr 30, 2010)

Please keep us posted on this, I'm interested in trying it as well.


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

It does not work for me. Day two shows no evidence of the springtails, and if there were eggs they would likely be eaten by the FF larvae. I think the vinegar killed them. Oh well.


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

Thanks for the update! I never have used vinegar in my media, but I do have occassional mold probs. Perhaps the springs would do better with some toilet paper rolls cut up. This is all I use instead of excelsior. I have the full tube in the middle and 4 quarters of a roll placed circularly around the whole tube. This has been more than enough surface area for the flies, and the larvae attach themselves to the rolls to pupate. I think as long as the springtails can get off the media, they should do ok?

JBear


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

You know, I really don't know if they'll be OK, that's one of the results of the experiment---I'm just speculating that the vinegar killed the springs b/c they were convulsing and now I don't see them, and I don't think the larvae would be able to eat them if they were alive. Also, I don't see how they could lay eggs in the media which wouldn't get eaten by the larvae as well, but try it and see!


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## jbherpin (Oct 16, 2009)

As I think about it, the FF cultures simply do not produce enough humidity to encourage Springtails to thrive. Also, it may be much more beneficial to wait until mold flares up, and use Springs as a cleaning crew, not as a constant in the culture... Just a thought.

JBear


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

jbherpin said:


> As I think about it, the FF cultures simply do not produce enough humidity to encourage Springtails to thrive. Also, it may be much more beneficial to wait until mold flares up, and use Springs as a cleaning crew, not as a constant in the culture... Just a thought.
> 
> JBear


Yeah, so try adding extra water to the culture. I did that when I poured them in.


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