# New cultures just not producing



## Jerseyzuks (Dec 6, 2008)

3 weeks ago I started 2 cultures. Followed the directions on the "culture media" and made sure that I was using flies from my oldest established culture to seed the new culture.

2 weeks ago I started a couple of more, same process.

The flies I dumped in are still all alive, the media looks good (not dried out, not moldy, not too wet).

The established cultures continue to produce, but absolutely nothing in the new cultures. They are all kept in the same room.

Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong? I should be seeing eggs and maggots by now, right?


----------



## Brian Ferriera (Nov 1, 2006)

Jerseyzuks said:


> 3 weeks ago I started 2 cultures. Followed the directions on the "culture media" and made sure that I was using flies from my oldest established culture to seed the new culture.
> 
> 2 weeks ago I started a couple of more, same process.
> 
> ...


What kind of flies??
Brian


----------



## Jerseyzuks (Dec 6, 2008)

Fruit flys (not sure of the exact species), got the starter kit from Frogs 'n' things


----------



## Brian Ferriera (Nov 1, 2006)

The type of flys can make the difference
melanogaster are smaller and start cranking flys much faster they can turn around in a few weeks
hydei Are bigger and take a month or more i think
I don't now what type you have as frogs n things website is not working
Brian


----------



## hexentanz (Sep 18, 2008)

It is possible in the newer cultures you picked out some flies that were newly hatched from the older culture, happens to us all I believe. If this is the case it can take awhile. The same if the flies are indeed hydei.


----------



## skips (Dec 15, 2008)

Are you using the the same culture media that the "seed" flies came from. I had a problem where I was using my flies and trying a new media from a professor's lab. It was a botched experiment completely. He told me that sometimes if a line of flies gets used to a specific media, they may have a hard time using another, so if your flies are used to some other type, they may not take to this stuff. I'd be curious to see if anybody else has had that problem.

But really, to echo the others, if they're hedii it takes about 2 weeks to see maggots, much less flies. If you havn't already, look really closely under a bright light just below the media line and see if there are any tiny black specks moving. Heidii larvae are really tiny for a while, and then they're huge.


----------



## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

I usually think something is wrong with my hydeii cultures (usually not starting with enough flies in the new culture) if I dont see maggots in less than 5 days. I use a little more yeast sprinkled on the top than most people though (most people just use a tiny pinch i think, in my cultures the whole top of the media is LIGHTLY sprinkled to where you can see the yeast particles pretty easily), and I start with about 200 flies in a 32 oz culture (commercial medium). They are usually slammin' for a little longer than a month. Also, I start cultures 3 weeks apart since it seems like I get the best ratio of sexes out of there


----------



## basshummper (Jan 13, 2008)

another factor could be your temps. the colder they are the long their life cycle is.


----------



## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

I've read that FFs are most productive in the first few days of life. Any chance that you used older flies?
Depending on what color the media is, it can sometimes be difficult to see maggots until they leave the media, as well.


----------



## karl47 (Sep 3, 2008)

zBrinks said:


> I've read that FFs are most productive in the first few days of life. Any chance that you used older flies?
> Depending on what color the media is, it can sometimes be difficult to see maggots until they leave the media, as well.


 Yes, Zach is absolutely right. I've read that the Mals are ready to breed just 15 hours after hatching, so I always feed twice from a new culture before I use it to start another, just to insure that the young ones are doing their thing. I have always had good success with FFFs and the brand of starter mix I get from Keith Tanis at "Frogs-n-Things". 
The colder seasons adversely effect the fly cultures because of less humidity and lower temps, as others have stated here, so I add just a little more water and about 20 more breeder flies (50-60 total) than usual. I also have started breeding Bean Weevils as a back-up food source and they're even easier.
Hope this helps,
Karl


----------



## skips (Dec 15, 2008)

karl47 said:


> Yes, Zach is absolutely right. I've read that the Mals are ready to breed just 15 hours after hatching, so I always feed twice from a new culture before I use it to start another, just to insure that the young ones are doing their thing. I have always had good success with FFFs and the brand of starter mix I get from Keith Tanis at "Frogs-n-Things".
> The colder seasons adversely effect the fly cultures because of less humidity and lower temps, as others have stated here, so I add just a little more water and about 20 more breeder flies (50-60 total) than usual. I also have started breeding Bean Weevils as a back-up food source and they're even easier.
> Hope this helps,
> Karl


I second the bean weevils. Asside from drosophila they're gods gift to feeders.


----------



## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

One thing too... I have heard from somewhere that the males in hydei cultures take a few more days to hatch than females. If you are using from the very end or the oldest flies from a culture you might be getting only one sex... or mostly one sex.


----------



## fleshatomb (Jan 24, 2007)

im not sure how new you are to this. I have never had a culture not produce. Had some with very weak numbers,, not not produce. 

Some took a while before they boomed.


One way to tell if you have maggots/larva in there,,, look in the media for little black specs. See if they are moving,,, once you understand what your looking for,, you can see if theres larva in there eating, moving around, etc. you can even see teir trails.. just a way to tell if there is any thing happening with your culture.

Hoped that helped?


----------



## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

How old was the culture that you started it from?

Are there still FFs alive in your new cultures?

What are the temps of the room they are in?


----------



## Jerseyzuks (Dec 6, 2008)

Well, the first few batched I made seemed to fail miserably... but the 2 I started on 12/14 are doing very well. Same mix, kept in the same room, at the same temp. The original culture that I used for seeding was from 11/11. Maybe a bit too young for the first few cultures I made? (not enough males?)

Anyway, the new ones seem to be doing OK. I made 2 on 12/14, 3 more on 12/24.

Now I just need to purchase some more culture cups


----------

