# Melanogaster or Hydei flys?



## hobbyuniverse (Jun 22, 2008)

Im hoping to get my darts in a month or two and want to get started on the FFF soon. Any preference for Melanogaster or Hydei for flys? I plan on getting 2-3 leucs. I want the easiest flys to culture. Less maintenance is better, but I will consider either depending on the recommendations of others that have "been there, done that". 

Also, are the springtails a good idea? If so, I may get those started now as well in my vivarium. 

Thanks in advance,
Len


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## Nubster (Jun 16, 2008)

I am wondering the same thing about the fruit flies as I am getting leucs as well. But as far as springtails, from what I have read they are a good addition to the viv as they help with the health of the tank as well as providing a nice snack for the frogs.


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## SusannahJoy (Jul 3, 2006)

I culture both. The melanos definitely produce more flies, and the cultures themselves tend to be a bit easier and more tolerant of me screwing up, but I like that the hydei are bigger, and tend to make less mess of their cultures (that is just a personal observation btw, not like, an actual fact). And springtails are definitely a good idea. They'll eat any mold of fungus that pops up, as well as frog poop (if it's on the soil, and not on the glass or something), and they're good for the soil.


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## Greg (Dec 25, 2007)

One thing you might want to consider is the amount of time it takes for the cultures to get going, that is to start producing new adult flies. It will take about 5-7 days for a D. melanogaster to start up it will take about twice as long (10-12 days) for a D. hydei culture to get going. I like to use both melanogaster and hydei cultures to give my frogs a little bit of variety. Also if your frogs are still tiny froglets you might want to stick with the melanogaster because the hydei FFs are two to three times larger (could be a bit big for tiny frogs). Also the time it takes for FFs (and just about all other insects) to develop depends quite a bit on the temperature, higher temps.= faster developing cultures (so long as its not to hot and kills them all).


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## mongo77 (Apr 28, 2008)

If your viv is not completely ff escape proof, you will find that Hydei flys tend to be better escape artists. I never find any Melanogaster outside my viv, but when i feed Hydei I usually find one or two escapees! I usually just make Melanogaster cultures and keep one Hydei culture going on the side.


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## Greg (Dec 25, 2007)

I never seem to have trouble with the FFs getting out. With my frogs the FFs don't have enough time to consider getting out. My frogs are "flyvacs" the moment I put the FFs in they are on them with there toes twitching and when my frogs are within 1" of a fly you can see that fly just suddenly disappear. I want to try and get a picture of the frog with the tongue shooting out. I have watched this hundreds of times and have only been able to see that tongue a couple of times, I think its blue (my frogs are D. azureus). With the larger hydei flys you can sometimes see the frogs have to crunch it up a few times. I find mealtime is one of the best times to watch the frogs, I really get a kick out of those twitchy toes.


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## MELLOWROO421 (Feb 21, 2007)

I prefer melanogastor over hydei. I like the idea of variety with having both but my hydei cultures were prone to crashing much quicker and produced much less after the initial boom than my mel's. There are a lot of different opinions on this, everybody has their preferences. Springtails IMO are a must. They are easy to culture, provide a good snack for your frogs, will be an important part of any offspring's diets and are great janitors for the tank.


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

What you probably want to do is to focus on getting the melanos going as your frogs' food source and gain experience with the hydei and springtails but don't rely on the latter two upfront for a food source. To points raised earlier, they can be a bit trickier (but not really hard). That way you take the tougher ones off the critical path.

Besides if you become heavily reliant on hydei and have a major crash you are pretty much in deep dreck from the frog food supply perspective. It's a pain trying to order rescue cultures from online sources at a time of food crisis...can be done but never pleasant.

Bill


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

I would start out with Melanos. They reproduce quickly compared to Hydei. Once you get comfortable branch out and get Hydei. 

Getting ER fruitflies can be very expensive, unless you have some good friends close by.


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## tItAnIuMhOpPeR (Jun 14, 2008)

I just raise both in the same culture. I have noticed that this helps the crashing problem and they get variety in the meal everyday. Now, I would recommend that you keep separate cultures if you are breeding, this way you can give the smaller guys the proper sized food.


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## moothefrog (May 16, 2008)

I raise both.My Hydie culture is doing a lot better than my mellan.You could start with melanogaster and then move to springs and hydei.


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## bruce (Feb 23, 2007)

Just a thought:
Although I do have both, and alot of varieties of melanos, the "workhorse fly" for me are the "jumpers" or curly wing melanos. They tend to breed quicker based on my and other breeder expierence on a wide variety of mediums and are pretty foolproof. Again try them all and use different mediums (homemade and just add water) to find the right one for you, as your growing conditions change and need for flies change.
B.


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## Greg (Dec 25, 2007)

I've been working with both types of FFs, they each have their pluses and minuses. The melanogaster take about a week to reproduce the hydei take longer, about 10 to 14 days before you start to new flies.


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