# What not to do with FF cultures



## Guest (Jun 21, 2006)

I learned not to make too much media in one cup. Otherwise the maggots make a cave in the inside of the media, get trapped, morph, and the flies experience a living hell with hundreds of flies trapped in one little space. I had to break the media apart to free them. Well they went from the mouth of the cave to the mouth of the tiger(aka toadies).

What have you learned not to do with FF cultures?


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I've learned not to feel that much compasion for fruit flies.


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2006)

I couldn't help it, it looked like a scene right out of hell.
Besides the point of the story is that it turned into a big mess to get to those flies.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

So what your really trying to say is... it wasn't worth it?


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2006)

Exactly. :wink:


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Never leave even a dusted container of FFs unattended... Like oh wow I got eggs! take them out walk around come back... oh crap!


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2006)

LOL :lol: 
Yea, thats important not to do.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

Man, that one flew right over the top of my head. Dusted container... and eggs, what, like, walk, huh.

Please explain, or I'll wake up more crazy.


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

He meant that he dusted the flies with calcium or vitamin powder. This makes them less likely to climb up the walls of the container. Then he noticed that their were eggs in one of his vivs, so he put the flies down, thinking that they would stay put. He took care of the eggs (put them in an incubator tank or what not), got sidetracked, and walked around his frog room for a few minutes (easy to understand), and then when he got back to the flies they had climbed out, and were all over the place.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

Ahh yes, I'm stupid. 

I was thinking he was talking about the fly container itself. Then saying eggs nocked me way the hell off.


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## Guest (Jun 22, 2006)

I'm so new to the hobby that I don't even have frogs yet. I acquired my first FF cultures today in anticipation of frogs next week.

This thread is bound to be useful.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

milehigh said:


> I'm so new to the hobby that I don't even have frogs yet. I acquired my first FF cultures today in anticipation of frogs next week.
> 
> This thread is bound to be useful.


It started off interesting didn't it? I was expecting something else when I first checked it out.

Good ice-breaker for a nasty creature.

You try to start some new, that's what you'll need a good couple weeks of practice with. You don't want to get yourself/your frogs in trouble. Wishing to be patient later.

Unless you have a store that keeps them in stock, but then again I know how un/reliable they/most are.


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

kyle1745 said:


> Never leave even a dusted container of FFs unattended... Like oh wow I got eggs! take them out walk around come back... oh crap!


Ahhhh Kyle, that's why you always have a spare lid handy for those spur of the moment times....just added FFs to the dusting cup, walk to viv to feed and ooops the perfect photo op presents itself :wink: 

Bill


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

As for my do not do' here it goes....never let the excelsior in the cup being innoculated with starter flies from an existing culture get caught as you close the lid of the existing culture and pull it away from the other cup. Or you'll have a huge mass of excelsior and free roaming flies dumped all over the place!!!

Bill

P.S. I've done this twice now so I guess I was a slow learner


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## gturmindright (Mar 15, 2006)

When I shake flies out of my culture I always end up smashing some in the lip of the container each time and eventually I have a build up of dead flies inside the lips of my containers and it pisses me off.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Yup Bill thats what I normally do.. But since I do down in the frog room to get away and relax I tend to space out from time to time...


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## JoshKaptur (Feb 17, 2004)

For all of the reasons mentioned here, and others, I have a shock vac plugged in and ready to go next to my frog tanks. Best way to undo the fruit fly mishap... which more than I care to mention in my case is dropping the dusting cup full of flies (I am a clumbsy oaf).

Also used to cut my spider population in half when it starts to get out of hand. I like some to help avoid AWOL fruit flies... but eventually it can get out of hand.

I also have learned NOT to bang the culture too hard when tapping flies (undusted) directly into a tank, especially if the media is still very wet. Quite a pain to get out a 1/2 cup of slurried media from among the intricate plantings of your tank. I eventually just misted it to death to wash the area.

Josh


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

For your first few times, don't make fly cultures inside. 

Don't mix different strains of flies.


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## Guest (Jun 23, 2006)

Josh, I did that a few times, the reason I haven't learned my lesson is cuase I have always been quick enough to turn the cup upright before all the media fell to the viv and burried my frogs.


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## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

Don't mix different strains of flys. That is how I got flyers, I thnk.


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## JoshKaptur (Feb 17, 2004)

Khamul1of9 said:


> Josh, I did that a few times, the reason I haven't learned my lesson is cuase I have always been quick enough to turn the cup upright before all the media fell to the viv and burried my frogs.


As previously mentioned, I am a big oaf. No way I have the reaction speed to do that.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

The culture catcher supreme: The regular mouth, quart sized mason jar. 









The only time I have dumped a culture inside a tank is when I was feeding from a culture I bought that came in a deli cup. My cultures come dislodged from the bottom of the jar but they don't end up in the tank because the mouth of the jar catches them.


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## Michelle (Sep 13, 2004)

I learned that you want to check on your upcoming jars on a regular basis if they are in a corner of the basement where you tend to only make it to once a week to get producing jars and put newly seeded one in the cabinet… I went to get some new jars out of the cabinet and found that a mouse must have got in there and climbed up all the shelves and must have walked along the tops of half the jars poking holes in them!!! :? Not a good sight to see, flies everywhere, luckily I always have way too many cultures on the go and the mouse only broke paper towel on half of them... Needles to say there is a mouse trap down there (this just happened yesterday)


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## Guest (Jun 26, 2006)

ayayaii!!! O boy! Hope you get that mouse!

Another thing I learned was to put away all cultures before company comes to visit. Especially if they bring a dog with them. Dogs seem to sniff the stuff out a mile away. They go straight for it and open the lid. The guests go bezerk!


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## Greenstar (Feb 28, 2004)

I can't believe no one has mentioned heat. Never get ff cultures too hot. In the summer here I can barely keep my room in the low 80s to high 70s. The frogs don't seem to mind but the ff's certianly do especially hydie, which tend to crash if the temp creeps above 85 for even a few hours.


Danny


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## Guest (Jun 26, 2006)

Thats a good one to know. I didnt know that.


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## Steve (Apr 8, 2006)

Don't feed too many ff's when there are little gaps between glass lids.

I recently found that some fruit fly's had been escaping out of the lid in one of my tanks, which in itself isn't a problem.

The fact they had provided a regular food source for two large female black widows behind the frog racks which are in our kitchen was a big worry (especially as we have three young children).

I tend to feed a little less now!

Steve


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## Guest (Jun 29, 2006)

Yea, we all got the spiders. I hope I havent got any black widows!! Yikes!

I do however keep seeing a jumping spider of some sort that lives in and around my 55 gallon tank. How it avoids becoming a snack itself is beyond me. I usually see it after feeding time and it has a fruit fly in its jaws. Pretty cool.


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