# Glass fruit fly cultures, alternative foods for springtails and isopods



## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Hello folks wanted to share a find with you (screen mesh) and some food experiments. 
Here at our Petco they have fruit flies and in the lids are mesh.
I got 3 dead cultures from them for free and I'm now using them on my cultures...well going to be using them. 









Going to me making homemade medium based off the bulk recipe here Frog Forum - Fruit Fly Culturing, Care and Feeding - Everything you need to know about Drosophila

Got all the supplies except the brewers yeast and regular yeast. Waiting for Petco to get some fresh fruit flies in then I'm going to start some cultures. I got the 24oz jars at a garage sale (4th one not pictured). Rings at Walmart and the other supplies at the Dollar Tree. Vingar is some I had on hand from cleaning my humidifier. Debating on using paprika. 
Oh yeah gotta get some mite paper here soon as well. 
The main reason I'm using glass is because I'm an environmentalist. I can also boil each of the pieces and sanitize them and not have to worry about bacteria.









I have been experimenting with foods for the microfauna.
I have been feeding the tropical springtails rice for some time now. Now I'm switching to the homemade powder and they seem way more lively. I also have removed excess water so only the ABG mix is wet. Both cultures have ABG mix in them btw. 
In my dwarf white iso and temperate springtail mix culture I have been using fich food flakes for a while but nothing was happening much so I went to rice and the springtails are producing more and the isos are more active.
Then I tried the Omega One Veggie Rounds and the isos love that one. 
Now I'm experimenting with the homemade powder and they both seem to like it but they tend to prefer the Veggie Round.

Here you see rice and the homemade powder in the tropical culture. The area where I shook out the homemade food has decreased by half so they love it. Got it all for like $2 something in the bulk area at the local health market. Going to be adding potato flakes into the mix before milling as well.









Here is the dwarf white/Temperate springtail culture. They were mixed when I got them. The sprintails go after the rice mostly I don't think they like the powder being on the cardboard.
Every since using the rice and Veggie Round the culture has produced more and the bugs are wayyy more active.









Here is the Veggie Rounds. I have them for my japanese algae eater shrimp.

















As for the homemade food I am using, I'm using a recipe based of this video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5crNZ0a_TVw
I couldn't find all the ingredients at the Co-Op where they sell bulk so I just used these (dried vegetables aren't there cause I used the rest with a pack of ramen lol)









I just throw about equal parts, not as much coconut though and a bit more spirulina, in the coffee grinder/spice mill and you have some yummy springtail food. 









Also debating on adding brewers yeast, corn meal, and potato flacks to crested gecko mrp to see if it comes out like the bug burger. All the other ingredients are similar.
I have a crested gecko and plenty of the food.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

The food recipe you are using is in effect the same basic one as the Carolina Biological Supply media so it's not as much of an "invention" as you are implying. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Ed said:


> The food recipe you are using is in effect the same basic one as the Carolina Biological Supply media so it's not as much of an "invention" as you are implying.
> 
> Some comments
> 
> Ed


Um I don't see anywhere in there where is says I came up with any of this media or any implications I'm inventing a media 
I even linked the sources where I got the ideas from. 
As far as the other feeding methods I was just showing my experimentation of it and that it does rather work.
There is no inventions here lol I called it homemade cause I made it myself from watching the guy's video. 
Just wanted to show people where they can get some screen mesh for mason cultures for free and share my experiences.


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## radiata (Jul 24, 2010)

Brandon,

How do you feed the *Omega One Veggie Rounds* to your isos? Do you grind them up? Use them whole? If whole, do you soak them in water first to soften them up?

Thanks,
Bob


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

radiata said:


> Brandon,
> 
> How do you feed the *Omega One Veggie Rounds* to your isos? Do you grind them up? Use them whole? If whole, do you soak them in water first to soften them up?
> 
> ...


I just toss one in and give it a good spritz of R/O water. 
As you can see here they have eaten through it and that is just one day.

When I opened up the culture the isos were covering the Veggie Round and the springtails were all over the homemade springtail food. As you can see below the amount I put in there has diminished a good bit in just one day and this is a rather small culture. You can also see they have pretty much abandoned the rice and are going for the Veggie Rounds and homemade food.
Before:








After:









These guys are wayyyyy more active now since I stopped using fish flakes.
Main reason I use Omega One brand for my fish and shrimp is because they don't put soy in their foods. Almost all soy is genetically modified.
I have looked at many sources from the local pet stores and just about every other brand had some form of soy.
I like to stay away from GMOs as much as possible. 
Not too sure about the salmon source but chances are the salmon used in these are from salmon farms where they mostly use genetically modified salmon, that get way bigger than non GM salmon, but that's one ingredient that pretty much makes up all of these foods lol.
These Veggie Rounds are around $8 at Petco but if you don't mind using soy products then you can get them for like under $4 at Walmart but the nutritional value isn't gonna be nearly as good.

Also as for the all tropical culture they are going nuts over this homemade stuff. As mentioned by a person in the post where I found the video they look like they are on steroids haha and it's only been one day. They are moving around a lot more.
Like I also said in the previous post I removed all the excess water so just the soil is moist instead of having like the bottom with water in it and that has also made a difference.
I noticed with charcoal cultures there was always a bunch floating around in the water and it just looks counterproductive when those guys could be feeding and breeding instead of being trapped in the water. 
In my opinion charcoal is outdated these soil cultures are far better and they can still be flooded to feed and they soil stays rather compact unlike charcoal that like to just move around and roll down splashing into the nice little pool of springs you just gathered lol. 
However for shipping purposed I can see why charcoal would be more ideal cause the soil could get packed down during transit and the charcoal would have loads of gaps for the springs to still move around.


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

Nice to know Walmart sells metal ringtops. I'd personally stick to coffee filters due to inreased mite transmission risk with screen as well as humidity issues.

I've ended up with a pretty similar formula to yours for FF's...you might like it since it is all about reusing things...

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/95672-sphagetti-sauce-jars-ffs-newbies-formula.html


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Wow these cultures are exploding since I changed to foods around.
I sprinkle the entire culture which is a shoebox sized culture and all the food is gone in a day or so.
The springtails in the dwarf white iso/temperate springtail culture have doubled and there is loads of little babies running around.

Going to have to make up some new cultures soon


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## dendrobates (May 11, 2009)

I have been reusing the culture cups and lids from petco with great success. The mesh is to small to let mites through or at least the adult mites. I have not had any major problems with mites in these containers.


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## Morten Müller (Jul 26, 2012)

DragonSpirit1185 said:


> Um I don't see anywhere in there where is says I came up with any of this media or any implications I'm inventing a media
> I even linked the sources where I got the ideas from.
> As far as the other feeding methods I was just showing my experimentation of it and that it does rather work.
> There is no inventions here lol I called it homemade cause I made it myself from watching the guy's video.
> Just wanted to show people where they can get some screen mesh for mason cultures for free and share my experiences.


Hello Dragonspirit 

Nice post 

just wanted to know what ratio you use to David Birkbeck mixture, is it 1 to 1 part of all the ingredients?!


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

I ended up tossing the canning jars I used for FF's. Unlike the OP I tried using them with coffee filters. They cannot maintain a good seal when used this way.

Anyone know of an online source for the plastic ringtops that come with applesauce jars? I love applesauce and don't mind eating it just to obtain these lids but I feel like I am always a bit short on lids.


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## thumbnail (Sep 18, 2005)

Great post. I have been working over the past few months with some other types of springs, and I also have stopped using just charcoal in the cultures. I use a mix of coco-bedding, sphagnum moss, inert topsoil, crushed leaves, and very little charcoal. The charcoals only benefit is it gives more surface area which could also be replaced with chunks of rotting log. I have a few that have the log instead of charcoal and they are working just as good. Food for all the springs, the mini beetles, and the purple Iso's is as follows. I mix a batch of color enhancing flake(red discus) with algae wafers. The side foods I also feed them on occasion are pieces of vegetable from the garden, fruit rinds/peels, and rotting plant matter. I have noticed a color change in the silver springs from the excess flake food, but cannot see any difference in the frogs as of yet. I do spray the food with water just to moisten a little. Sometimes it does mold, but they seem to relish the mold also. All cultures get fed every other day, and even with heavy amounts of food it is gone in that amount of time. Every now and then a rind or peel of fruit or veggie takes a few more days, but I just leave it in. Oh and all the cultures have magnolia leaves, and chunks of bark on top for easy transfer to feed to frogs and seed tanks.


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