fruitfly substrate

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snussmak

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Alexander
hi, i've recently bought a colony of fruitflies. my question is: the man who sold them used some form of substrate in which the flies mated on and laid their eggs and the larvaes later on started to eat on the substrate. anyone know what this substrate might consist of?
 
There are several formulas, some are home-made and there are also comercials ones.
I don´t know if the one i use is the best but it certainly works (i get quite a lot of flies).
You can do some research aroung the net, you will find several recipes.
Mine, in case you´re interested consists on:
-Potato puree flakes(not sure about the english name)
-Sugar(a spoon)
-Wheatgerm(a spoon)
-Some dried yeast.
Add water or juice until it´s a wet mass(not too wet).

Also check this site:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.cann/articles/Drosophila.html
 
You got there before me Rodrigo! :)
 
As i have posted before i have tried just about every fruit fly media going and in the end settled on just banana for my fruitfly cultures which works well with only minimal smell.
I have asked Alan about his method of rearing fruitfly in the past, but with me having bad experiences with using potato flakes due to the smell, i never got around to trying it.
However i sat and watched the link posted,did EXACTLY as Alan advises and have to say that, he has done it again, that is definately the best and most productive method i have used, no smell at all,and huge amounts of flys.
cheers Alan
 
All fruit fly cultures smell, it's just a question of how much. Try to keep the culture on the drier side (but not dry) - they smell worse if they are very wet.
 
This is what I have used and have a great success with all types of fruit flies
Boil
In a pot bring the following to a boil.
2 cups water
2 cups vinegar
1/8th cup Dark molasses
1/2 can of grape juice concentrate
2-3 overripe mushed up bananas
After bringing this mixture to a boil, add the dry material
1/2 cup malt of meal
2/3 cup potato flakes
1/3 cup Brewers Yeast (the key ingredient)
Place about 2 inches of medium in each qt size jar, and sprinkle maybe an 1/8th teaspoon of activated yeast on the top. A day later, 20-30 flies are added. For the first 10 days, I keep the cultures in cardboard boxes which are kept closed, after that, I keep them on a large shelf to help the larvae dry out.

Hope this helps
Radtad
 
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