# Making cultures last?



## hukilausurfer (Aug 31, 2009)

So ive started culturing fruit flies(hydei) these last few weeks. But the first culture i made had one HUGE boom that used up all the media and all the flies i didnt use died at the same time. The last culture i made hasnt had any pupates yet but it does have a ton of larvae. Is there anything i can do to make the cultures last longer? Is this just a hydei trait?


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## jeffr (May 15, 2009)

hukilausurfer said:


> So ive started culturing fruit flies(hydei) these last few weeks. But the first culture i made had one HUGE boom that used up all the media and all the flies i didnt use died at the same time. The last culture i made hasnt had any pupates yet but it does have a ton of larvae. Is there anything i can do to make the cultures last longer? Is this just a hydei trait?


I always have an overflow culture ready incase of excess flies in one or more cultures. I just dump the excess into the empty overflow culture


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## SmackoftheGods (Jan 28, 2009)

You're only working with one frog. That's not enough to keep the hydei population down. You should probably go outside and periodically dump some flies out just to keep flies you aren't using from consuming all your media.


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## laylow (Apr 6, 2009)

SmackoftheGods said:


> You're only working with one frog. That's not enough to keep the hydei population down. You should probably go outside and periodically dump some flies out just to keep flies you aren't using from consuming all your media.


Good idea but sounds a little rude to me. . . .


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## SmackoftheGods (Jan 28, 2009)

What's rude?



laylow said:


> Good idea but sounds a little rude to me. . . .


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

New hobbyists should always try to gain experience with melanogaster first. Most Hydei yields are very unpredictable and they are slower to culture.

Nobody's being be rude here.....we are trying to help.


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## laylow (Apr 6, 2009)

SmackoftheGods said:


> You're only working with one frog.


This line struck me as a little rude. He knows what he's working with one frog and he knows how to make a solid culture, Sorry just came across as errogant.

I consider the 3 of us friends no need to rough any feathers just an observation

Shaw


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## hukilausurfer (Aug 31, 2009)

Well the media I bought from joshsfrogs was said to be made especialy for hydei but I'm guessing it would be all right to use it for melano?


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## SmackoftheGods (Jan 28, 2009)

laylow said:


> This line struck me as a little rude. He knows what he's working with one frog and he knows how to make a solid culture, Sorry just came across as errogant.
> 
> I consider the 3 of us friends no need to rough any feathers just an observation
> 
> Shaw


Oh, I suppose I can see it as rude when taken in that light. The intention wasn't to rough feathers, the line was meant for comparison between how many frogs and how many cultures. With only one frog it's to be expected that cultures will produce far more flies than can be consumed by the frog. It's definately going to lead over population in the culture and will cause the culture to crash _especially_ considering that hydei flies are larger than melanogasters and require more media per fly. But again, as was indicated (intended to be indicated) by my original post, this is much more likely to happen when dealing with one frog.

We all collect frogs at our own rate and personally I think it shows a lot of self control keeping one frog (I know very well how addictive this hobby can be). I think it's a good idea to work with one or two frogs until you get some experience too. There was no condescention intended.

You're right, though. I think we're all friends. Joe and I are even going plant shopping this week (whoo!  ). I certainly hope he was able to read past my attempt to be brief (although after this explanation it hardly seems worth it).



hukilausurfer said:


> Well the media I bought from joshsfrogs was said to be made especialy for hydei but I'm guessing it would be all right to use it for melano?


I'm actually told by a friend of mine that the hydei joshsfrogs mix is better for both hydei and melanogasters. But this is all hearsay, I used mixes from Chris for a couple months and then moved straight into making my own media, no direct experience with joshsfrogs mixes.


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

Philsuma said:


> New hobbyists should always try to gain experience with melanogaster first. Most Hydei yields are very unpredictable and they are slower to culture.


I agree with Phil on this one. We work with Wingless Melanogaster, Turkish Gliders and Hydei. The first two are predictable and simple. Hydei are not.

The only reason we culture Hydei is for some Reed frogs and Mantella's.

IMO Dart frogs seem to much prefer the smaller flies. We have almost all Tincs and rarely feed Hydei. The Hydei tend to go straight to the top of the viv. The others do not.


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## Allyn Loring (Sep 30, 2008)

Also when you get a large bloom from any fly culture and don't use them fast enough ,the ammonia from the flies waste spikes and causes problems.


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## BBJ (Feb 26, 2010)

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Hydei and Melanogaster also differ in the fact that the Hydei all hatch at once, whereas Melanogaster hatch out over a longer timespan, thus making less of a boom than the Hydei.

Is this true or was it just my imagination? 
I havent tried Hydei yet, only Melanogasters.

Regards Bjorn


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## davecalk (Dec 17, 2008)

BBJ said:


> I seem to remember reading somewhere that Hydei and Melanogaster also differ in the fact that the Hydei all hatch at once, whereas Melanogaster hatch out over a longer timespan, thus making less of a boom than the Hydei.
> 
> Is this true or was it just my imagination?
> I havent tried Hydei yet, only Melanogasters.
> ...


I don't think that this is the case. I believe that the phenomenon of hatching out over longer times comes from the flies breeding and laying the eggs over a period of time.


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## RMB (Nov 26, 2009)

Try starting a culture with fewer flies, who will lay fewer eggs, causing less of a boom, and hopefully sustaining a population longer.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Allyn Loring said:


> Also when you get a large bloom from any fly culture and don't use them fast enough ,the ammonia from the flies waste spikes and causes problems.


Yes. And even when you do use them up, a culture's life can end early because of the ammonia...one of the projects on my back burner is to fine tune my ff media blend (I use Chris Miller's power mix) so that there is no media left at the end of the culture life. I never have much left over in the hydei cultures, but there is always some in the melagonaster cultures...if you dump the container out, you can smell the ammonia. 

My theory is to decrease the protein content somewhat (protein breaks down into N) to try and find a balance between fast production, and total utilization of the media.

To the O.P.'s problem...try making smaller cultures. For example, if you are using the standard 32oz containers, try going with small vial type containers.


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