# Why aren't my cultures producing flies?



## Guest (Mar 24, 2006)

I started some fruit fly cultures about 10 days ago now. I added adult flies to the media about a week ago and I still don't have any larvae popping up? 
I used 'audioandroid's' aka Kris' mix that he sent me with my frogs. I used one part medium, one part warm water, and one part white vinegar. I put about 1" of the media in the bottom of several jars and added a dozen or so flies to each container.
They are kept in a cool dark place.
Any ideas? Did I forget something?
I really need some flies in a bad way!
Thanks


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## gary1218 (Dec 31, 2005)

COOL slows down the reproduction process. Mid to high 70's is where the FFs will produce best.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2006)

So I need to warm them up a bit? I'll do that tonight. 
Thanks.


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

You added 1 part media/1 part water/1 part vinegar? Is your media soupy? It should be the consistency of mash potatos or slightly wetter. Also, are the flies still alive? What temps are you keeping them at? What kind of cups are you using?


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2006)

The consistancy is like mashed potatoes, so I think I got it right, consistancy wise anyway. 
There are still flies alive in the cultures.
I used small glass milk bottles with a thin layer of old T-shirt rubber banded over the top.
They are kept in my furnace/storage room. Its probably in the high 60's maybe as high as 70 degrees in there. 
I just moved them under my bathroom cabinet where my remote ballasts are hidden for my reef tank. It gets pretty warm under that cabinet, probably around upper 70's maybe low 80's. Is this too warm?


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## JL-Exotics (Nov 10, 2005)

If you have hydei ff, they take a good 2 weeks to ramp up... and then another good 2 weeks to start hatching out. It seems like forever compared to my melanogaster!


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2006)

If they don't start producing soon, I'm going to be in big trouble. I ordered 1200 flies from one of the vendors here on Dendroboard, but because of a USPS mix up, they all arrived over a day late and to the wrong address. All were DOA due to the cold.


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

Whoops, I just assumed they were mels. If they are hydei, JL is right, you will see larvae in a couple of days.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2006)

Hi Josh- I haven't mixed up your media yet. Kris was kind enough to send me two cups of his media with the frogs he sent me. That was enough for several cultures. I wanted to see what happened with his mix before I started with yours. 
Thanks for the tips guys. I think I'll order a couple thousand melangasters from Ed's flymeat tonight and hope they make it Saturday, most likely monday.


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## pa.walt (Feb 16, 2004)

*....*

n/m


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## pa.walt (Feb 16, 2004)

i didn't read on your post if you used yeast.
also maybe you can get some 5-7 day crickets to feed out to the frogs till the flys start to come out.
do any of the carriers deliver on a saturday. monday could be too long. they would be sitting in the cold wouldn't they.


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## Frogtofall (Feb 16, 2006)

You could just pay the extra cash for overnight delivery if you REALLY wanted them that badly.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

> added a dozen or so flies to each container.


Am I the only one who adds around 50-100 flies to new cultures? Did you forget the baker's yeast? Forgetting that will kill your production.



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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

Actually you do not need to add baker's yeast. Enough will come on the feet of the flies you add.

Also, yes, 50-100 flies is a good number to add if this is a 32 oz culture.


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## defaced (May 23, 2005)

That has not been my experience at all with hydei or melanogasters. I have had more culturs crash from insufficent yeast than I can count. However, I have read about this alot lately so I'll give it a shot with part of my next batch of flies.



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## Guest (Mar 24, 2006)

There was no mention from Kris to add yeast to his media, so I didn't. Is it too late to add some now? 
Frogtofall- I have enough flies to get me through the weekend I think. I may search out some pin head crickets if I don't.


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## pa.walt (Feb 16, 2004)

depends on the size of your frogs but you not have to get pinheads. 7 days would be fine. pins don't ship to well, at least for me they didn't. since they are newborn they are a bit touchy. 
about the yeast, if you have flys in the container just add the yeast they should still be able to do their thing.
walt


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2006)

Thanks Walt. My frogs are probably big enough for 1/8" size crickets. You're right about the pinheads.


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## Frank H (Nov 3, 2005)

I find the more flies I add to a new culture, the more flies it produces, but lasts a shorter time span. I think you should add more like 30-50 flies instead of 12.. 
I am under the impression that the bakers yeast is not needed, it is more of a boost. Adding bakers yeast incourages the flies to start laying larve in the media. ... correct me if Im wrong.. 
I have never once used bakers yeast and my cultures do OK.. Id say half of them do great and the other half are about as good as the cultures I find at local pet stores(slow producers). I do find some green mold in some of my cultures. Doesnt seem to stop production, but does shorten the life of the culture. I believe the bakers yeast would help stop the mold growth. I just havnt found any bakers yeast in local stores. 
Hope my little experience helps.
-Frank


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## Guest (Mar 26, 2006)

I'm having the toughest luck with these darn cultures. I moved my fly cultures to a warmer cabinet and today I noticed that in 4 of the cultures, all of the flies have died :? I can only guess that it got too warm for some of them.
Still no pupae or fly production. 
I'll add a little yeast today.
Geez, I'm feeling pretty inadequate at the moment being I can't even culture fruit flies  
I sure hope the 1000 I ordered from Ed's make it tomorrow.


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## JoshKaptur (Feb 17, 2004)

Not to worry... getting a hang of the fly culture thing is the hardest part of keeping these guys, imho. And that too will soon feel like a piece of cake.

Aim to get them somewhere in teh 70's, and you should have luck. For ease of culturing, you can't beat melanogaster. Hydia have more bulk and last longer, but I only culture them as "reserves." I make 75% of my cultures as melanogaster, even though almost all of my frogs would take hydei.


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## Guest (Mar 27, 2006)

Thanks for words of encouragement Josh!
I spoke with a very nice lady at Ed's Sunday and she helped me through some of my fruit fly woes. She tells me that Hydei can take upwards of 30 days to start producing. I had been told to expect 7 to 10 days which is why I was beginning to feel I had done something terribly wrong being that I haven't see any production in 10 days or so.
I am having problems to be sure, or else I wouldn't have killed off 4 cultures, but at least I understand now that Hydei take much longer than the Melangasters. 
I ordered 4 large cultures of curly melangasters, 1 culture of hydei, and 1 springtail culture and am having them FedEx'd to me Wednesday. This should get me by until my original cultures start producing. 
I'll make up a batch of Josh's media and get that going too.
Geez! Feeding these frogs is more expensive than I ever imagined! I'll have spent over $120 on flies and media within the last two weeks!
Thanks again for all the help on this!


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2006)

Yeah, don't bring that up (fly $$$) :lol: 

I remember spending more money on flies when I got my earlier than expected shipment of first frogs. Three worthless local cultures the wife got me, an hour long road trip for some pinheads, two online orders(which paid off, cause one of the shipments must have been thrown against the wall, and busted one of the cups, and embedded all the flies in the media in the other culture. Flies went everywhere when I opened that box :shock: ) 

Lessen learned of how important it is to keep plenty of flies on hand though :wink:


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## Ben_C (Jun 25, 2004)

Hi sonofgaladriel,
You can add yeast after you make the media w/ no problems. You can also make a yeast paste (yeast + water) and dab some of that on top of your media. This should help you get a boom of larvae...
I hope this helps,
B


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## Guest (Mar 28, 2006)

Thanks Ben. I'll add the yeast tonight.


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