# fruit fly help. Please!!!



## Guest (Mar 7, 2005)

Hello to all. I am new to the whole dart frog and fruit fly scene. Before I order my ff culture and supplies I want to make sure I understand this. Ive looked all over this site but cant find the answer Im looking for and its easier to ask on this forum. Say I use all the flies in one cup, do I throw this media out or can I reuse it? How long will the flies last in a deli cup? All help and replies will be greatly appreciated. Thanks


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

When you add flies, they lay eggs in the medium. Once the eggs hatch, the larva eat it. The culture runs down when all the medium is gone (ideally). While it is certianly possible to reuse the containers, once the culture is dead there is no media left. If you take out all the adults while there is still medium left, there will still be larva in the medium that will pupate and emerge as adults, but there will be a gap in production because you fed out all the adults. No adults = no new eggs.

As for how long it takes for the culture to run down, that depends on the type of container and how much medium you put in it.


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2005)

Thanks. Also, I have 3 auratus so which ff should I use? Im going to order from eds. I have heard nothing but great replies about eds.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I'd recommend melanogaster for auratus, especially if they're froglets. You can buy flies at Petco and just order the culturing materials online. That way you save on shipping, since you don't have to pay for next day or second day air.


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## dmartin72 (Oct 27, 2004)

I wouldn't recommend getting the FFs from Petco because they don't give enough FFs to start a lot of cultures. Plus most of the FFs I got from Petco were fliers. I would suggest getting at least 4-5 good clean new cultures from EDs Fly Meat to make your future cultures. Plus their FF media is great!


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Yeah, I once bought some of the Petco FFs and found that they were mostly fliers. Deadpan response from my fiance as I opened the container for the first time only to have a number of flies fly out was "Somehow I don't think those flies are flightless" :lol: But I digress.

I second the recommendation to get a few good starter cultures up front and would suggest that you work on getting ahead of your frogs' appetite vis-a-vis fly production. Not only will this give you some experience in routinely managing the FF culture, the only downside is that you may end up with a few too many FFs at first. I can assure you that is a far more desirable state than the reverse. The only major mistep I made early on with PDFs was not understanding the importance of getting into a routine for fly culture setup and it was several LONG days as I worked to address the problem. 

Good luck with your frogs and flies and welcome to the wonderful world of PDFs!!!

Bill


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

I started off feeding my auratus melanogasters, but now mostly feed hydei.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I've bought many starter fly cultures from Petco (usually when I just want to work with some new blood) and never had fliers in the starter culture. I occasionally get them in any of my cultures in summer, but that's due to wild fliers visiting them and not to the Petco cultures. Flightlessness is a recessive trait, so any fliers would be evident from the start. The Petcos in this area are supplied by Timberline. I usually get enough flies for 2-3 new cultures just from the adults that are already there when I buy it. If you're just going to get a few auratus, you're not going to need to start up 15 cultures right off the bat.


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

cassanova said:


> Thanks. Also, I have 3 auratus so which ff should I use? Im going to order from eds. I have heard nothing but great replies about eds.


I actually feed mostly hydei to adult auratus but I don't recommend using them as your only type of fly. If you are going to culture only one type, go with flightless melangastor. They are easier to culture and produce faster and more reliably. It was mentioned that small auratus froglets might be too small to take hydei. That is true but if someone is selling auratus froglets that small, they aren't the person to be buying frogs from. Any froglet large enough to seel should be able to take hydei in my opinion.


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