# D. melanogaster from Fruit Fly Company



## Tomoko Schum (Jan 14, 2012)

Does anyone know what variety of melanogater they might be?

I recently purchased a container of Fruit Fly Company’s fruit flies from Petco in a pinch. The description on the container says that it is D. melanogaster, but they are much smaller and more prolific than the melanogaster that I have. The small container outproduces my container of regular melanogaster on Josh’s frog media, but it does not have any ammonia odor even though I had them almost three weeks.


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## JPccusa (Mar 10, 2009)

Is it possible that you had the wrong information about your previous flies? Melanogasters are small and prolific. Hydei are bigger and slower to produce. 
I doubt the Fruit Fly Company would mislabel their product.


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## Tomoko Schum (Jan 14, 2012)

JPccusa said:


> Is it possible that you had the wrong information about your previous flies?


I am positive about my culture being melanogaster.

I am wondering if the variety that I picked up at Petco (Fruit Fly Company's) may be Turkish gliders.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

I agree that the PetCo ffs are smaller and prolific compared to other ffs I've had. I've noticed that when I make new cultures from the PetCo ones, that they do not seem to be as small or prolific. Maybe it's something in their media?

I think you would know, as soon as you opened the lid, if they were Turkish Gliders


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## Tomoko Schum (Jan 14, 2012)

frogface said:


> I agree that the PetCo ffs are smaller and prolific compared to other ffs I've had. I've noticed that when I make new cultures from the PetCo ones, that they do not seem to be as small or prolific. Maybe it's something in their media?
> 
> I think you would know, as soon as you opened the lid, if they were Turkish Gliders


Hmm, interesting. I need to try to culture them and see what happens. I wonder what is so different about their media to make such a difference.


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## Broseph (Dec 5, 2011)

I have wondered if the flies from Petsmart are initially prolific because they have been exposed to fairly harsh conditions compared to how we breed them, resulting in very hardy flies. 

This is why many of us don't use the initial population boom from a culture to start new cultures; it artificially selects for less hardy flies.

Also, the flies I've purchased from Petsmart are flightless (still winged), and I think they produce better than the wingless. 

Just some theories.


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## Tomoko Schum (Jan 14, 2012)

Broseph said:


> IAlso, the flies I've purchased from Petsmart are flightless (still winged), and I think they produce better than the wingless.
> 
> Just some theories.


My melanogaster flies that I culture are flightless with wings, and so are the Fruit Fly Company's flies from Petco.

The Fruit Fly Company's flies keep coming in high numbers although they are very small from the start. The ones that I culture myself are pretty big when they first bloom. They become smaller as time passes. By third week they are much smaller than the first batch, but they are still much larger than the Fruit Fly Company's flies.


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## LarryLee (Jan 15, 2012)

i ordered some cultures from a vendor on here and they came with lots of mites so I fed them out and then bought the petco fruit flies to start new cultures with... they are wingless.....I use the basic media with mixture of oatmeal, potatoe flakes,powdered sugar, brewers yeast( I buy bottle of tablets from walmart,and crush them.$2.95 for a bottle and i get 8 cultures out of it) bakers yeast. and 50/50 vinegar and hot water... my cultures go crazy.....
Larry


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## Tomoko Schum (Jan 14, 2012)

LarryLee said:


> ibought the petco fruit flies to start new cultures with... they are wingless.....
> Larry


Thank you, Larry. I was wrong about the Petco ff being flightless with wings.

I looked at them this morning under x 10 magnification, and Larry is right. They are wingless with a few short spikey hair on their back. Although the bottle says they are flightless and the picture on the label shows fruit flies with wings, these flies (at least in this batch) are wingless. 

Although these flies look dark in a feeding container, they are actually red eyed, tan-colored with a dark hind end. I found a few albinos among them.


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