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Re: [Live-foods] fruit fly medium



At 09:00 9/11/2007,  REDRAGON40 at aol_com asked:
>Does anyone have a recipe for a fruit fly medium that is as easy to use and
>convenient as the culture medium sold by commercial fly culture places?

Long ago, about 15BC (Before (personal) Computers), I gave away 
wingless starters and culture directions.  Here is what I recall of 
the process:

Medium:  Boil cornmeal, oatmeal in water , let cool, add agar to 
stiffen (optional), when body temp add  propionic acid (mold 
inhibitor, stir well), orange juice (optional), then baker's yeast 
and a multivitamin tablet (pre-ground up).  Sorry but I don't 
remember the proportions.  The consistency at room temperature should 
be like stiff left-over mush.    Here is one recipe:
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 teaspoon powdered agar (from lab supply web site)
1 tablespoon molasses
1/8 teaspoon calcium propionate (optional)  (from agar source)
1 package bakers yeast

Pour into tall thin bottles (we used baby nursers) to a depth of 
about 1 inch, then stuff in a facial tissue so that 10% of the tissue 
is down in the medium and the rest rises up the inside of the 
bottle.  Chopsticks are good tools for this.   Make 6-24 bottles at a 
time.  I would start a new set weekly till you get the hang of 
it.  Label the bottles with the date.

Then knock a dozen adult flies into each bottle from a mature culture 
and cap with a piece of tissue held with a rubber band.  In a few 
days you should see larvae (white worm-like things) in the medium, 
then pupae (brown seed-like things) on the tissue above the medium, 
then new adults!

You can feed adults to your fish by removing the tissue lid and 
holding the bottle mouth-down over the water and giving it rap to 
knock the adults to the water surface.   When new adults are scarce 
or blue or green mold appears on the tissue, wash the bottle 
carefully in plenty of soap and HOT water, then use it in your next batch.

To distribute flies, I sent a piece of tissue with fresh pupae in a 
film can by first  class mail.

Good luck. 
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