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Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...
Dart Den

Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...

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On Fruitflies
#1
I think a general discussion would be beneficial.
I saw a recent post and did not want to hijack so any others input is welcome.

All ffy's are "flightless" (unless mixed with other species of Mel's then you will have fliers) the Mel's I use are Turkish gliders and wingless. The Turkish gliders are quite a bit more "jumpy" than the wingless (no wings obviously), I will say (for me) they do produce more ffy's per culture in the long run than the wingless but my wingless cultures bloom faster. I feed all my frogs Mel's even my terribs and BYH they do fine. I have found the hydei to be a pain and culture slower but if you have the patience they are fine but will climb and escape IMO more than Mel's.
-Beth
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#2
Gliders are also far better at escaping vivs than wingless mels, at least for me...
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#3
Chuck Lawson Wrote:Gliders are also far better at escaping vivs than wingless mels, at least for me...

Yes they do. Smile
-Beth
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#4
Wingless- Poor production compared to others, but feed them to newly morphed froglets.

Turkish Gliders- Very good production and get fed out to older froglets and adults.

Hydei- Excellent production and are my "go to" fly for keeping my larger Tincs well fed.

FF larvae- Used up to 3 times a month.
Glenn
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#5
Glenn,
For me the wingless boom at first then trickle off. The TG boom longer, I feed both to all my pums including juvies. You'd be surprised how fast they can eat ffy's .
With your large tinc collection I agree that hydei are a necessity, I just have the terribs, Auratus and BYH they have been fine on Mel's (just feed more mels to them).
-Beth
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#6
BcsTx Wrote:Glenn,
For me the wingless boom at first then trickle off. The TG boom longer

Mine do the same, Beth. Tincs have no issue feeding on smaller flies. I just happen to have a lot of them and need a bigger fly.
Glenn
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#7
frogfreak Wrote:Wingless- Poor production compared to others, but feed them to newly morphed froglets.

Turkish Gliders- Very good production and get fed out to older froglets and adults.

Hydei- Excellent production and are my "go to" fly for keeping my larger Tincs well fed.

FF larvae- Used up to 3 times a month.
I find my melanogaster cultures product far more [smaller] flies, but I have invested in hydei / golden hydei to get a "meatier" fly in my feeding rotation. My melano cultures do well for about two weeks then they tail off, but that is right at week 4, which is when I toss the culture to avoid mites. Over the winter, my hydei cultures produce far more mass than my melano cultures, but they seem to crash more in the summer. This is the second summer in a row where my production drops dramatically. My temps do go up to 78 - can't do much about that as it's 100 outside.

What temps are your cultures at? Mine don't seem to be drying out (I end up using more water in the summer), so I don't think it's humidity related.

Beth / DFW crew - do you guys see seasonal drops in hydei production as your temps increase?

I have not tried gliders yet. I am ramping up my melanogaster culturing over the summer and I've cut back on harvesting flies from the hydei cultures to keep them going. I'll cut the melano culturing back as the hydei production comes back.

Heh - raising flies - who would have thunk it just a few years back pre-darts....
Jim from Austin | https://www.oneillscrossing.com/dart-frogs/
fantastica nominant | summersi | reticulata | A barbotini
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#8
Worth mentioning....Hydei come in 2 different flavours. Regular - the 'black' guys, and more of a brown, regular looking FF - the 'golden delicious' , i think.

I think i remember Jeremy H. saying those 'brown' hydei culture much better.

I never had great luck with the larger black H. I stick to melas.
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"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
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#9
Phil the goldens are smaller than regular hydei and are good feeders but can be picky or tricky to culture (for me at least) for Casper no. Smile

Jim the only hydei I have fed in the past 3 years are the goldens, they crashed on me a while back so I do not feed them anymore.
As far as temps go, my frogroom ambient temp is 73-75 range. I culture my ffy's in an upstairs closet probably 75-78 degrees. Once they boom I bring them into my frogroom. With the heat and low humidity I am putting almost twice as much water into my media.
-Beth
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#10
I was culturing Black and Golden Hydei together (They came that way) and eventually the Goldens disappeared. Recessive gene?

I culture between 75 and 78 in the summer months with 55-60% + humidity in the room. I never let the humidity go below 55% all year round or 72 ish F.
Glenn
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#11
I culture both hydei and golden separately. The golden seem to be more steady for me in production. The regular hydei are feast or famine - sometimes they are just astounding as to the volume of flies they produce for me. My goldens are a bit smaller, as Beth said.

I keep the flies in the utility room where the temps are in the high 70's. The humidity is higher downstairs where the cultures are - 50% to 60%. We have a dehumidifier upstairs and it's set to 50% so it's pretty steady. I seem to lose hydei cultures within the first two weeks after making them over the summer. I may button up the cultures a bit - I keep them in large plastic containers lined with mite paper - I have vented tops for the container, so I may cover them more tightly and see if that helps. I guess I have a new location for my next data logger project :lol:. Maybe I'll up the water content a bit more and try that out too...fly chowder.
Jim from Austin | https://www.oneillscrossing.com/dart-frogs/
fantastica nominant | summersi | reticulata | A barbotini
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