# Number of fruit fly cultures for 4 leucs?



## tflanag1 (Aug 8, 2006)

In a couple of weeks, I will be getting 4 leucs. Right now, I have two about-to-produce fruit fly cultures. How many producing cultures should I have to feed from once I get my 4 frogs?


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## booboo (Jan 22, 2005)

two is good and maybe a backup. But then again you might end up getting different types of flies so you might have more cultures. I have 3 strains of melnaogaster.


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## tflanag1 (Aug 8, 2006)

Enough flies will be produced daily or every other day to feed 4 frogs from two cultures?


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## booboo (Jan 22, 2005)

well if you time it right yes.

They will begin to produce rapidly so one day there will all the sudden be 100s. They will live for a while so they dont have to be producing every day. I did it for 4 ventrimaculatus for a while(1st frogs) but because they are leucs and are bigger maybe more. Whatever your comfortable with.


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## Guest (Aug 30, 2006)

I have 3 leucs and right now...about 8 or 9 cultures going at various stages. A couple are almost dead, a couple were just made and the rest are producing flies or are just about to produce flies. Always better to have too much than too little. Maybe its just because theyre young but mine eat alot :shock: Maybe only 1 or 2 flies escape their doom. little piggies.


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## njfish77 (Aug 5, 2006)

If i were you i would start as many cultures as you could ( within reasonable numbers, dont want people getting the wrong idea). As they are babies i suppose i notice they eat a lot more than a full adult. Like i always say too, if you have to many fruitflies you can always get rid of some, but if you dont have enough your screwed.


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## njfish77 (Aug 5, 2006)

Well i guess Nawth kinda beat me to it by a couple of seconds lol :lol:


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

A good rule-of-thumb is 1 culture for every 3 frogs. This is good for most any species. So you should do good with 2 cultures. These two cultures will last you for one month, producing 2 generations of flies (maybe more). You certainly don''t need more than that. You will be swimming in flies!!


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## tflanag1 (Aug 8, 2006)

After the flies start producing and their are tons of flies present in the culture, how long can you allow hundreds of flies to be in there? I have heard that it is better to throw flies away if they are not being fed to frogs so that they don't trample each other and kill more off in the culture?

So when do you know that it's getting to this point?


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

After making your first cultures, when the new flies that hatched have been in the culture for at least four days (time enough to lay new eggs) make 2 new cultures with a portion of them (50-100 flies) and feed the rest to your frogs (not all of them just enough for that day). Now you have 2 new cultures that will be ready to do the same thing in about 14 days. And then the whole process repeats. After those 50-100 flies have been in the new cultures long enough for you to see larvae crawling up the sides of the container, feed the parent flies to your frogs. This is how you keeep the fly count down in your cultures.


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## MikeL (Jun 13, 2006)

"have 3 leucs and right now...about 8 or 9 cultures going at various stages. A couple are almost dead, a couple were just made and the rest are producing flies or are just about to produce flies. Always better to have too much than too little. Maybe its just because theyre young but mine eat alot"
_________________


Im more in agreement with this comment.....

sorry dragonfrog but 1 culture for my 3 luecs would not be enough...

Currently I have 6 cultures that are producing and 2 that are pretty much dead, I need to make two new ones right now.. Half my cultures are meglomaster and half hyedi (spelling), I have 3 leucs and with this set up I still dont have major amounts of flys, it seems like just enough...

If I were you I'd culture both types, and start the first ones about 2 weeks before you get them. Then each weekend I'd make a new culture of each. This should be good for your 4 leucs....


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

Let me rephrase that, 1 culture for 3 frogs *with one for back-up* thus the 2 cultures recommended for the 4 frogs. Honestly, I have a total of 20 frogs and I make 7 cultures each weekend and I have more than enough to feed all my frogs, and they are fat!!! (I realize 7x3=21 but 7 works great for me). 
Then again, I do feed them other things besides FF. Like flour beetles, springtails. So there are days that they do not eat FF.


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## JoshKaptur (Feb 17, 2004)

I'd recommend you make 2 melanogaster cultures per week. You'll have plenty of flies, even if one crashes... but no need to go crazy.


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## tflanag1 (Aug 8, 2006)

What is the advantage of D. hydei over melanogaster? What would be the need to do both?


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## O2 Plastics (Jun 28, 2006)

1 produces faster with smaller flies. The other (hydei) slower with larger flies.

I'm doing 3 1/3 cup cultures every two weeks for my 2 colonies (4 tinc and 3 leuc). 1 culture for each colony with 3rd that I use as backup. I rotate the cultures so that each one has a couple days of non-use to repopulate. 

I was doing 1/2 cup cultures, but was ending up having to juggle too many to keep them from turning from overpopulation.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

I have a group of 5 leucs, and I make 3 cultures of melanos and 1 culture of hydei every 7-10 days (whenever the 1st generation hatches out of the most recent round of cultures made) using the "power mix" medium. I also have 3 cultures of springtails, and throw a few dozen of them into the viv every couple of days, rotating among the cultures; in addition, I keep 1 male and 3 female crickets in a plastic shoebox to provide my frogs with pinhead crickets every week or so. The leucs are fat and happy, but not too pudgy. I normally have a little extra flies left over every week, but if I have a culture crash, it does not significantly impact my feeing schedule. I personally would recommend breeding as many different varieties of feeders as you can. Variety is the spice of life!


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

JoshKaptur said:


> I'd recommend you make 2 melanogaster cultures per week. You'll have plenty of flies, even if one crashes... but no need to go crazy.


That's what I was going to recommend.
You might not even need that many, but with only one culture, you are kind of pushing you're luck.
If you want to split hairs, I think Ed stated an adult tinc at rest would need around 60-80 melagonaster a day to maintain itself.
If you already have cultures going, see how many flies you can shake out at one time, once a day.
For my medium sized collection, I make 7 cultures (32 oz cups, 2/3 cup medium, coffee filter pupate surface) of power mix every 7-10 days.
This feeds my whole collection, including froglets.


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## Guest (Aug 31, 2006)

Yeah I should have mentioned I have a few extra cultures since I only started culturing a month or so ago so eventually I'll reach a good level. Plus I'm adding more frogs but until you get the hang of it its better to OD a little :lol:


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## Frank H (Nov 3, 2005)

Dont forget to factor in the size of the enclosure.. I feed lots more in my bigger cages-reguardless of number of frogs.. It is easier for 2 frogs to find all the flies in 10g versus a 40 gallon. The bigger your enclosures, the more flies you will need.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

I do the same thing. I feed per tank size, not number of frogs. When I feed a tank, it's got more than enough for what's in there.


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## tflanag1 (Aug 8, 2006)

An additional question I have.... What is the best way to dump flies out of the culture container? How do you prevent getting the moist media from pouring down the side, and how do you keep from dumping out too many flies?

Additionally, what is the best method for dusting fruit flies? Do you pour them into a cup and shake them up with supplement?


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

tflanag1 said:


> An additional question I have.... What is the best way to dump flies out of the culture container? How do you prevent getting the moist media from pouring down the side, and how do you keep from dumping out too many flies?
> 
> Additionally, what is the best method for dusting fruit flies? Do you pour them into a cup and shake them up with supplement?


Sounds like you pretty much have it down, though if you're media is runny, add less water next time, so that it isn't runny.


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## tflanag1 (Aug 8, 2006)

defaced said:


> I do the same thing. I feed per tank size, not number of frogs. When I feed a tank, it's got more than enough for what's in there.



For those of you who "feed by tank size", how many flies would you suggest for a 29 gallon tank with 4 leucs?


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## JoshKaptur (Feb 17, 2004)

Enough so that the next day there are a few flies left (blow in the tank and they should move around). If there are more than a few, feed less next time. If there are none, try feeding a little bit more.

You didn't mention it, so I want to make sure you are dusting your flies with a calcium/D3 supplement, and a multivitim supplement?


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## tflanag1 (Aug 8, 2006)

I will be dusting the flies with the supplements, but I don't have the frogs yet. What I'm thinking about doing is dropping a pinch of both supplements into a cup and shaking them up. Does this sound right?


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## O2 Plastics (Jun 28, 2006)

Forgot to add, my frogs are small still. So for adults I anticipate doubling the # so I don't wipe out all the adult flies when I feed. I've got all 4 tincs in 1 10g, and 3 leucs in another 10g. They will be moving soon to a split 55g display tank.


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

> An additional question I have.... What is the best way to dump flies out of the culture container? How do you prevent getting the moist media from pouring down the side, and how do you keep from dumping out too many flies?
> 
> Additionally, what is the best method for dusting fruit flies? Do you pour them into a cup and shake them up with supplement?


The easiest way I have found is to take 2 large tupperware containers, put about 2-3 tablespoons of the supplement in one of the contaners. Take a FF culture, tap the sides to knock down the flies, open it and gently shake it at a 30 degree angle over the tupperware filled with suppliment (being careful not to let any on the media get into the tupperware) until you have the amount of FF you want in the container. Now take the tupperware container full of FF and suppliments and pour the contents through a fine stainless steel kitchen strainer into the second tupperware container. The FF will remain in the strainer to be feed to your frogs.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I usually only use 1/4 or so teapspoons in my dust cup.
Also, the strainer will remove the most excess, but you have to work real quick, and with some practice tapping the cup, you can usually dump mostly dusted flies out of the cup, with little supplement falling out.


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## EDs Fly Meat (Apr 29, 2004)

I use a 32 oz container and cover the bottom of that. It seems to do th job.

Also, is anyone amazed when they are cranking out the flies and have them 1/2-1" deep. It's something to behold, I don't know why it captivates me so.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Dave, do you mean 1/2 to 1 inch deep of flies?

I've probably had close to 1/2" in the bottom of a 32oz cup...what I find real cool is the sound of the flies in the cup...the winged varieties are especially cool sounding...almost like a miniture bee nest...


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

tflanag1 said:


> defaced said:
> 
> 
> > I do the same thing. I feed per tank size, not number of frogs. When I feed a tank, it's got more than enough for what's in there.
> ...


I would take a culture at full production and dump about half of the files in the culture.


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## froggerboy (Jul 9, 2006)

wow I really under feed my frog by these standards.I put about fifty or so in my fifty breeder tank with three luecs, five days a week, dusting three times a week. Once I accidentally dumped a couple hundred in and the frogs freaked out and took to the high ground. I keep six cultures, two on the way out, two at full production and two freshly started.
I dont want fat frogs but I can't say I know what a health feed frog looks like. Any pictures would help.My frogs have little love handles but if I feed them as you state then they would be really fat honkers. 
I had a feeding issue with my tokays. I saw how decimated the were when they came to the LPS being that they were wild caught and brought them up to a safe weight. They ate enormous amounts of food and breed like bunnies, but they were never as fat as I saw in the pictures on the gecko forums.The keepers of the fat geckos always talked about how calm they were but it seemed that the were just too fat to fight back. 
So do my luecs require more food?


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