Fruit fly culture question

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captmicha

Le tired.
Dec 6, 2006
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Maryland, USA
I'm culturing flightless fruit flies and everything is going okay so far except that every time I open a culture, all the flies are hell bent on getting out.

I know you're thinking, of course they are but is there anything I can do to keep from losing a few every time I open a container? I don't want them escaping in my house...

I try putting them in the fridge for an hour or so to slow them down but it hardly slows them down any.

Another question is, is it okay to put it in the fridge if there's larvae in the container? I obviously don't want to kill the larvae but I do want to slow down the emerged flies so I can put them in another container.
 

mellowvision

Seafood Lover
May 17, 2007
5,099
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Brooklyn NY
www.mellowvision.com
Real Name
Bill Brissette
you bang the container on the table before opening, it makes most of them drop to the bottom, and gives you enough time to dump some and stick the lid back on. If you're planning on dusting them, you want to prepare a cup to dust in first, with your repashy or calcipowder, and pour into that cup, then immediately cap the culture and cap the dust cup. you could perform the whole operation over a tupperware or something. I usually just get prepared to kill anything that escapes.
 

uwanna

AC Members
Aug 22, 2011
10
0
0
Oregon
I just tap the container on the table top or shake it. If you can open the container over or in whatever you are feeding them to, that can help too. I have poison darts, what do you have?

While on this subject. Does anyone feed these to your fish? I had some extra last night and dumped some into the tank. Wow, they went on a feeding frenzy and did quite a job on them. Food doesn't get any fresher than that. Just wanted to know if anyone else feeds them to fish.
 

uwanna

AC Members
Aug 22, 2011
10
0
0
Oregon
That is super. Now I don't have to waste my large containers of flies on my small darts. They usually die long before I can feed all of them. Breeding is easy enough, but I hate to see anything die. Now they will die, but while giving back to something that can fully appreciate them. :thumbsup:
 

Vicious_Fish

Moderator
Mar 6, 2007
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The Land of the Lost
Real Name
Seth
Yup, just tap the container.

I would feed the extras to my fish but they're too small to even be noticed by most of them.
 
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