First fruit fly cultures

[hjoe1112]

Thinking about it now - my instant mash potatoes actually had butter "flavor" added, could it be that separating to the top? I had made another culture with the vinegar/water using the same mash potatoes powder and it didn't do this.

[MikeM670]

I believe the recommendation is to use plain old potato flakes. No additives of any kind. I'm sure what you have will be fine. Looking at the amount of flies you have in the container in the future I would add more. Read the article I mentioned earlier on the number of flies to use. With D. melanogaster use about 50 to 100 and D. hydei over 100.

[guppygal]

Could be. Does it smell buttery? Probably just smells....

[Tony]

Did you sprinkle active yeast over the top of the culture when you set it up?

[hjoe1112]

Well it does smell kinda bad. I didn't know about the active yeast - will need to get some.

Thanks for the advice from everyone!

[hjoe1112]

How long does it take to get mites?

[guppygal]

Fruitfly cultures are notorious for smelling bad. You can add cinnamon to help with the smell. I don't use active yeast in my fruitfly cultures, but I do use brewer's yeast.

I'm pretty sure that you can feed out of your current cultures while your new cultures are making -

[guppygal]

Almost forgot - it depends on how quickly you can get mites. You might get lucky and not have to worry about them at all. I do know that old cultures attract mites, especially old Hydei cultures. I put all of my current cultures in one plastic box, old cultures in another box, and new cultures in yet another plastic box. Separating them like this helps keep the mites at bay. You can also try the mite paper -