Fruit Fly recipes and ingredients

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I use the same amount for both kinds of flies.

[Philsuma]

ok..someone said to use more media for Hydei. That would make sense 'cause the actual fly is larger and they take more time to grow.

I did occasionally make media that large and referred to it as a 'double bloom' size - allowing for a big second or even third hatch. I have since stopped and wondered if that large size sometimes resulted in fouling the culture due to sheer size and possibly more detritus and fly excrement ect....

[Rusty_Shackleford]

ok..someone said to use more media for Hydei. That would make sense 'cause the actual fly is larger and they take more time to grow.

I did occasionally make media that large and referred to it as a 'double bloom' size - allowing for a big second or even third hatch. I have since stopped and wondered if that large size sometimes resulted in fouling the culture due to sheer size and possibly more detritus and fly excrement ect....

I could see the possibilty in that. I do regularly get second hatches, I don't typically keep cultures around to get a 3rd hatch. Sometimes I do though, and particularly with the melos they are stunted and actually make a really nice small meal for tiny new froglets.

[frogfreak]

Hey Jon,

That about the amount of medium I use for my Hydei. For Melano's, half that. I think the reason you can get away with using the same recipe for both is because you're using a generous amount of brewers yeast. Some only use 1 cup of yeast and I find Hydei need more protein, which means more yeast.

Best

[Rusty_Shackleford]

An 1/8 of a cup really? I'll try it. I'd be happy to make media go even further. Thank you.

[Philsuma]

Try my method then Jon....just barely enough media to cover the bottom of the deli cup. As long as I can't see bottom , that's all I use !

[frogfreak]

An 1/8 of a cup really? I'll try it. I'd be happy to make media go even further. Thank you.

Sorry, Jon. I was just referring to the second photo and not your measurements. I'm currently using 3 tablespoons of Repashy, which works out to be 3/4's of a 1/4 cup. Mine don't last a full month though. I like big blooms! I can't handle opening 20 cups to feed a single frog in week 4. :lol: For the Hydei, I double that.

[frogfreak]

Try my method then Jon....just barely enough media to cover the bottom of the deli cup. As long as I can't see bottom , that's all I use !

Don't you find that it dries out, Phil?

[Philsuma]

Yeah...ya gotta account for that Glenn. Especially in the summer. I just make it a little more on the soupy side - little more water.

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Rusty almost the same as my recipe except I add a teaspoon of paprika and use the methyl parabon for my mels and hydei.
I use 1/2 cup media to 3/4 c boiled water.

Is the paprika for color enhancement?

[DianeCarter]

Hi All,
I am doing an experiment with my ff culture media. I recently ran out of my on-line store-bought media, and today set up my trial. I read through all the recipes here for various media, and chose 4 different recipes. I'm using wingless small ffs. Once they "pop", I will record the results...amounts, dates they hatch, etc.
On a related topic, a question for you--the first several months in this hobby, my cultures of ffs were sitting out, in the light, near my vivs. I recently got organized, and put all my cultures on a shelf in a closet, which is dark. My latest cultures popped several days ago, and they were a few days earlier than expected, and HUGE! I don't know yet how long they will last, do they re-pop or just peter out, etc. But.....any of you have any advice about keeping ff cultures in the dark or in the light? I'd appreciate any experience you have... I've read that some of you put cultures in drawer systems, etc, but haven't seen any end results, or recommendations based on this experience. Thanks!

Diane

[Philsuma]

Buying pre-made FF media can be as $$ as @ .89 cents a culture or cx

make your own for like .13 cents

[RanaVenenosa]

An 1/8 of a cup really? I'll try it. I'd be happy to make media go even further. Thank you.

Sorry, Jon. I was just referring to the second photo and not your measurements. I'm currently using 3 tablespoons of Repashy, which works out to be 3/4's of a 1/4 cup. Mine don't last a full month though. I like big blooms! I can't handle opening 20 cups to feed a single frog in week 4. :lol: For the Hydei, I double that.

I do the same Glenn - I like explosive growth so I don't have to open so many jars and preserve valuable space. I go heavy on Super-fly mixed w homemade I get from Casper. I make fewer cultures but go more heavy on mix so they can last 35+ days if needed. After day 23-25 I move to laundry room away from new cultures to avoid mite issues.

[Philsuma]

Anyone come up with other numbers, perhaps more accurate than mine ?

@ .89 cents = average cost per culture of most commercially available media

@ .13 cents = avg costs per cx of 'home made' or DIY media

[Ghostvivs]

The media I sell equals about .50 a culture.

[BcsTx]

Jon, I add the paprika for color enhancement. Not sure if it is transferred to the ffy's but when you squish them you see red, plus my frogs yellow and red is bright.

[joneill809]

Got more supplies today so I weighed out the portions I use of the "modified carolina mix" that I have been using for the past 6 weeks or so. It's working well for me - I did not use Methylparaben, I've been using ground cinnamon dusted on the top of the wet media to keep mold at bay and it seems to be working so far. I did not figure the cinnamon into the cost, I really don't use much at all, and I've been adding it to commercial mixes in the past. In two years, I'm only on my second jar, so it's really not that much. So mashed potatoes, powdered sugar and brewers yeast. Here's the cost breakdown:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
So mine is about twice the cost of your figure Phil, at $0.27 per culture. I'm sure it's my cost on brewers yeast - a 1 pound jar is $12 which seemed steep, but Amazon and the local health food places have about the same price. Any leads on less expensive sources? Overall it's still a decent deal when you figure in the added cost of shipping media. At 6 cultures per week for me, that is $1.60 per week and $83 per year.

[Philsuma]

Very interesting Jim, thanks for the attention to detail. Most people use more media than 'less' and you'd be surprised how much you could cut back and still maintain a decent level of media for 1 or even 2 large fly "blooms".

[joneill809]

Yeah I'm one of those folks that uses more media than I probably need to. Melanogaster don't get through 1/2 a cup in a month, so moving to 1/3 a cup would reduce the cost from $0.27 to $0.18 which is closer to your figure. I don't think I could reduce the hydei below 1/2 cup - they seem to plow through a lot more media...and coffee filters.

[boombotty]

I used to mix 1/3c for Melanos, but recently started mixing 1/4c and it last for the life of the culture (usually 4-5 weeks). Just making that little change really seems to save on media.