Fruit flies part 4: Regime to maximise fly production

Typical Drosophila vials. Keeping flies over damp paper in a dedicated cabinet helps maintain humidity, and prevents contamination from wild flies.

Why a regime?

Looking after Drosophila is quite easy when you get the hang of it. When cultures crash it's usually because they were left unattended for too long. The life span (just like the development time) is temperature dependent, and does not much exceed 2 weeks as a fly. It is critical to follow a careful regime to allow maximum production. This can take a few minutes each week and that's it. HOWEVER, miss a week and your yield will be drop, miss 2 and you may well loose your cultures! If flies are left too long over old media, they will also starve, and provide a poor snack for the fish. If you can not attend to the flies, its best to keep them cool, slowing down their life cycle (20 deg C) until you can tend to them again.

In general flies should be kept at around 25-28 degrees C. This provides a quick turnover of flies for feeding and allows a weekly regime to be followed. They also like a relatively high humidity; If yours are not kept in a humid room, consider keeping the vials in half a centimeter of water.

So how does the regime work?

The vials that the flies inhabit are separated into 3 categories:

1. The present generation of adult flies - laying eggs for future generations (3-4 vials - top shelf of picture)
2. Vials containing chrysalised larvae, and newly emerged flies. (10-20 vials - middle shelf of picture)
3. Flies or larvae for feeding fish (3-4 vials - bottom shelf of picture).

Once per week newly emerged flies are collected from 2. These are placed in fresh vials, and are designated 1, the present generation. After 3-4 days these flies are moved again, onto new media 3. The old vials (which are loaded with eggs or very young larvae) go back in 2, to make future generations. Once the week has passed, the flies making the present generation can be fed to your fish, and their vials may either go back into 2, or be left for a few days to provide larvae for feeding (see part 5 - feeding fish). Of course a new generation of adult flies is again collected from 2 at the same time.

In hot weather, and if things are going well, you will soon have a lot of flies. On the other hand, you may struggle to breed enough to satisfy your fish. But always avoid feeding newly emerged flies to your fish, even if you have no shortage of flies 'coming through'. Newly collected flies may well be hungry. It's always a good idea to place them over fresh media with added brewers yeast for 24 hours before feeding them to fish, ensuring they are plump and healthy before feeding to your killies.

There are many advantages of keeping to a strict regime such as this:

• Each vial will contain only flies/larvae of approximately the same age, resulting in eclosion (hatching of the adult fly) over a relatively short period. This reduces the time you have to hang onto older vials-making fly collection easier and lessening the chances of mold.
• The longer flies are kept on the same media, the more runny it becomes- if the flies are collected after a 3-4 days, it will still be quite solid. Runny media can drown flies, stick them down and goes everywhere when the jar is inverted.
• All flies will have reached sexual maturity and have reproduced before being fed.

Fruit fly cultures for sale

Flightless Fruit Fly Culture (Drosophila Melanogaster) Free Shipping

San Juan, Puerto Rico, 009**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

$15

Flightless Fruit Fly Culture (Drosophila Melanogaster) Free Shipping

Ship Monday-Wednesday

Live arrival guaranteed

Any question or problem send me a message
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"Golden" Drosophila melanogaster (Flightless Fruit Flies Culture) - LIVE INSECTS

Cleveland, Georgia, 305**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

$40

??PLEASE READ BEFORE PURCHASING??
(WHAT YOU RECEIVE)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FRUIT FLY: "Golden" Drosophila melanogaster (flightless)
SIZE: 1 / 16?? inches (smaller than hydie fruit flies)
COUNT: 50+ (will produce prolifically)
(BASIC INFO)
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LIVE FOOD SOURCE FOR: Dart Frogs, Jumping Spiders, Praying
Mantis, Mantids, Morning ... more

x4 Flightless Fruit Fly Cultures (Melanogaster, Hydei & Goldens) LIVE FEEDERS

Cleveland, Georgia, 305**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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??PLEASE READ BEFORE PURCHASING??
(WHAT YOU RECEIVE)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: "Golden" Drosophila melanogaster / "Golden" Drosophila hydei
Drosophila melanogaster / Drosophila hydei
(x4 CULTURES)
Sizes: Flies, Larva & Eggs
Count: 50+ Per Culture (will produce prolifically)
Sex: M / F
WITH EXTREME TEMPS THERE WILL ... more

Flightless Fruit Flies (newly started 24oz Drosophila hydei culture)

New York, 100**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

$18

This listing is for one 24oz container of flightless fruit flies (Drosophila hydei) complete with media and flies!
Just like wingless D. melanogaster, flightless D. hydei fruit flies are ideal feeder insects for small or young animals. They are about twice as large as D. melanogaster. Unlike crickets or other typical feeder insects, fruit flies cannot bite or harm your pet. They are easy to maintain and reproduce quickly (D. hydei reproduce slower than D. melanogaster). The life cycle of D. ... more

Fruit Flies Flightless Drosophila Hydei

Lehigh Acres, Florida, 339**, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

$20

Flightless fruit fly feeders for your chameleons, spiders, fly trap plants etc??
32oz cup that produces for multiple weeks
We only ship priority mail, usually 2-3 days
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