HI, i just bought 2 fruit fly cultures and i am confused on how i am going to keep them going. The cultures came with additional media. What do I do ? The cultures have about 75 flies each. My girlfriend doesn't like them one bit so i want to keep it as safe and productive as possible.
Thanks
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Hi nate9,
welcome to the forum.
Did you not receive any instructions with your flies and additional media?
You didn't mention which flies you are working with, so since the two different types of fruit flys have different production times, you will need to adjust your schedule to accommodate this.
Let say you are working with the melanogaster to be referred to as mels from this point forward.
Mels take approx 10-12 days to hatch. Your hatch time will be affected by the temp they are kept at ( warmer-quicker, cooler-slower). When you notice a large amount of larva in your culture ( around the 7-8 day mark),
you can start to feed off the adult flies over the next two days in that culture. After a couple of feedings you will have no adult flies in that culture, only larva. The larva will crawl up the sides of the container, pupate, and start hatching. After approx 1 week after you have fed off the adult flies,the NEW adult flies start to hatch, you can then use the NEW adult flys to start your new culture. After you have used the first new hatch to start your new culture then use the culture for feed. You will repeat this process with your new culture.
Flies are sexually mature and can start mating 12 hours after they hatch.
This same method is used with the hydei, it is just that the time frame is a little different due to their slower hatching time. Hydei take approx 21-24 days to hatch.
You want to be sure you do not keep your flies too warm as this believed that this causes sterility. Ideal temp range is 72-78. It is always a good idea to not let your cultures over populate, keep them thinned out.
And I would recommend always keep the new cultures going at a pace faster than you anticipate using them. You don't want to run out. It seems no matter how good I am at judging the cultures it's not always easy to predict when one will suddenly end. You always want to make sure you have them available.
