# What is a good homemade fruit fly media?



## Zero (Nov 10, 2017)

I know you can buy repashy and other commercial fruitfly media but I was wondering if there is a more cost effective way of producing cultures. What ingredients does a fruit fly media need?


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## Rich (Feb 8, 2018)

The hardest thing is to get your timing right so you have Fly's constantly.
I'd make a batch (Size dependent on your demand) every week.

Here's a simple formula.

Fruit Fly Media
2 tbsp of oats.
1 tbsp of instant potato flakes
1/4 tsp of sugar
1 /4 tsp active dry yeast
3 tbsp of warm orange juice
1 tsp of vinegar
1 dash cinnamon
Mix, cover with screen and leave over night to ferment

Don't put your fruit fly's in until the next day or the carbon dioxide from the fermentation will kill some off.
instead of wood excelsior I use the synthetic plastic craft raffia (Craft Store)
It doesn't get saturated with moisture and your culture produces longer.


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## Rich (Feb 8, 2018)

Sorry I forgot to add I also add half of a mashed banana!


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## Zero (Nov 10, 2017)

Rich said:


> The hardest thing is to get your timing right so you have Fly's constantly.
> I'd make a batch (Size dependent on your demand) every week.
> 
> Here's a simple formula.
> ...


What type of orange juice do I need? is it just the concentrate or does it have to be fresh? is instant mash potatoes the same as potato flakes? and is the sugar I need the regular sugar we use in our coffee or powdered?

Thank you


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## Freddie9990 (Apr 23, 2018)

Zero said:


> What type of orange juice do I need? is it just the concentrate or does it have to be fresh? is instant mash potatoes the same as potato flakes? and is the sugar I need the regular sugar we use in our coffee or powdered?
> 
> Thank you


Hi, not sure about the orange but i'm going to guess fresh. It is recommended to use powdered sugar or confectioners but i don't think it will make a huge difference once water is added. Instant potato flakes is what you need...Just get supermarket value brand


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

The problem depends on what you want to do with the nutrition of the frogs. If your not that interested in nutritional value of the flies, then the simplest media recipe is based on nothing more than potato flakes, brewer's' yeast (dead), confectioner's sugar, a mold inhibitor and water. This is what is commonly referred to as the "carolina biological supply" recipe in the hobby. It is the industry standard recipe and is used in fly labs around the globe and because of this is it reliable. 

Within the hobby there are a lot of crazy recipes that are all touted on the basis of "production" but that is really a useless metric (besides being subjective) since genetics and how the flies are cultured play a large part in that equation (and other things like protein up to a certain amount being a limiting ingredient). Pretty much all of those recipes that include things like orange juice are unnecessary and provide no real value in terms of the culture or the quality of the flies.... 

There are a lot of discussions on the forum on this topic including what to look for in a media...... 

some comments 

Ed


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## Rich (Feb 8, 2018)

Ed would probably know the best method. He's most definitely one of the most knowledgeable on this site.
Believe me I've learned a lot from his posts.

What do you recommend or what works for you Ed?


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## carola1155 (Sep 10, 2007)

The sticky at the top of the Food & Feeding subforum has a helpful thread for this:

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/58072-best-homemade-ff-media.html


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

carola1155 said:


> The sticky at the top of the Food & Feeding subforum has a helpful thread for this:
> 
> http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/58072-best-homemade-ff-media.html


Some of that is a little out dated like the use of vinegar as a mold inhibitor isn't accurate since many of the molds found in the cultures do just fine at pHs down to 2.... well below what is going to really grow flies). I should also point out that the use of cinnamon as a mold inhibitor only works at levels that are insecticidal... so again no flies at effective doses... 

The cheapest media is the Carolina styled recipes but only if you get the ingredients in bulk and are willing to work the media so the ingredients are evenly distributed in the media. In addition, it really stops being cost effective if your trying to add things known to improve the diet of the frogs like astaxathin since you have to turn over the astaxanthin as it will go rancid over time and that adds to the cost significantly. Once I worked all of that out, it was less time and expense to simply use a manufactured media and since I like the carotenoid distribution in Superfly, that is what I use as my media. 

some comments 

Ed


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## Zero (Nov 10, 2017)

Ed said:


> The problem depends on what you want to do with the nutrition of the frogs. If your not that interested in nutritional value of the flies, then the simplest media recipe is based on nothing more than potato flakes, brewer's' yeast (dead), confectioner's sugar, a mold inhibitor and water. This is what is commonly referred to as the "carolina biological supply" recipe in the hobby. It is the industry standard recipe and is used in fly labs around the globe and because of this is it reliable.
> 
> Within the hobby there are a lot of crazy recipes that are all touted on the basis of "production" but that is really a useless metric (besides being subjective) since genetics and how the flies are cultured play a large part in that equation (and other things like protein up to a certain amount being a limiting ingredient). Pretty much all of those recipes that include things like orange juice are unnecessary and provide no real value in terms of the culture or the quality of the flies....
> 
> ...


Will the carolina mix work for melonagaster?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Zero said:


> Will the carolina mix work for melonagaster?


Contrary to the sales pitch of some vendors, the same medias work just fine for both melanogaster and hydeii... without any modifications. 

Now keep in mind that the most basic media does not provide all of the possible benefits to the frogs and that to get those you'll need to tweak the recipe. 

See for example Dugas, Matthew B., Justin Yeager, and Corinne L. Richards‐Zawacki. "Carotenoid supplementation enhances reproductive success in captive strawberry poison frogs (Oophaga pumilio)." Zoo Biology 32.6 (2013): 655-658. 

some comments 

Ed


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## Rich (Feb 8, 2018)

See what I mean...
Again I learn more.

Thanks Ed!!!


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