Aquarists normally only culture the flightless (wingless) fruit flies, as the flying variety can be a real pest especially in the fishroom as the environment is perfect for them.
This is an excellent fishfood for medium to larger killifish, but not one that I often have in my fishroom as it takes quite a lot of time and space to culture in large numbers. Though when the fish are trained to know what is coming then the displays are lovely to watch as the fish emerge from hiding and quickly swims to the surface to grab the flies (keep the tank lids on as the fish will jump or at least you will get splashed).
Well as of autumn 2018 I have decided to produce as much live food as I can in my fishroom rather buying in expensive live bloodworm that often does not last long enough to feed it all to my fish. Therefore I purchased a starter culture of wingless fruit flies from Ebay (Insectgirl), plus some additional plastic culture cups. Now make sure that you get the ones with fabric covered lids and not the small (or large) plastic mesh. I made a mistake initially with my order, which allowed flying flies to enter the cups and did I have a problem for a few weeks in the fishroom. Since getting the correct lids I have not had a problem, and many of my fish love these, especially Fundulopanchax marmoratus Mbonge.
How I currently cultivate these is to start with a couple of ripe bananas, which are mashed to a pulp in a glass jug, to which I add 4-5 dessert spoonful's of porridge oats, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of bakers yeast (cinnamon and yeast are to prevent mould forming). This is all mixed together and if the mixture is too dry (needs to stick to the bottom of the cup) then some boiling water can be added. This mixture is now placed at the bottom of 2 clean cups, and some more yeast sprinkled on top. I then add some excelsior (thin wood shavings) to fill three quarters of the cup, for the flies to live on. Next step is to inoculate the new cups with flies from your existing ones, put on the lids and wait about 2-3 weeks to get a good supply.
In mid 2019 I switched to keeping the larger species of fruit flies, Drosophila hydei, which was mainly for other inhabitants of my fishroom (but that is another story I have yet to tell). As well as changing the type of fly, I purchased some dry culture medium from the supplier on Ebay, Wakooshi, and this makes culturing the fruit flies so easy. The next time I make a new culture I will try to takes some photos to show you how easy it is.
Place 5 tablespoons of dry mix into the culture container and add 10 tablespoons of water (1:2 ratio), mix well and allow to thicken for a few minutes then add some wood straw and finally add the flies. Quickly putting the cover on else the flies will escape. Label with the date so that the cultures can be used in rotation, and put them somewhere warm (22-28°C) for 2-3 weeks.
This is an excellent fishfood for medium to larger killifish, but not one that I often have in my fishroom as it takes quite a lot of time and space to culture in large numbers. Though when the fish are trained to know what is coming then the displays are lovely to watch as the fish emerge from hiding and quickly swims to the surface to grab the flies (keep the tank lids on as the fish will jump or at least you will get splashed).
Well as of autumn 2018 I have decided to produce as much live food as I can in my fishroom rather buying in expensive live bloodworm that often does not last long enough to feed it all to my fish. Therefore I purchased a starter culture of wingless fruit flies from Ebay (Insectgirl), plus some additional plastic culture cups. Now make sure that you get the ones with fabric covered lids and not the small (or large) plastic mesh. I made a mistake initially with my order, which allowed flying flies to enter the cups and did I have a problem for a few weeks in the fishroom. Since getting the correct lids I have not had a problem, and many of my fish love these, especially Fundulopanchax marmoratus Mbonge.
How I currently cultivate these is to start with a couple of ripe bananas, which are mashed to a pulp in a glass jug, to which I add 4-5 dessert spoonful's of porridge oats, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of bakers yeast (cinnamon and yeast are to prevent mould forming). This is all mixed together and if the mixture is too dry (needs to stick to the bottom of the cup) then some boiling water can be added. This mixture is now placed at the bottom of 2 clean cups, and some more yeast sprinkled on top. I then add some excelsior (thin wood shavings) to fill three quarters of the cup, for the flies to live on. Next step is to inoculate the new cups with flies from your existing ones, put on the lids and wait about 2-3 weeks to get a good supply.
In mid 2019 I switched to keeping the larger species of fruit flies, Drosophila hydei, which was mainly for other inhabitants of my fishroom (but that is another story I have yet to tell). As well as changing the type of fly, I purchased some dry culture medium from the supplier on Ebay, Wakooshi, and this makes culturing the fruit flies so easy. The next time I make a new culture I will try to takes some photos to show you how easy it is.
Place 5 tablespoons of dry mix into the culture container and add 10 tablespoons of water (1:2 ratio), mix well and allow to thicken for a few minutes then add some wood straw and finally add the flies. Quickly putting the cover on else the flies will escape. Label with the date so that the cultures can be used in rotation, and put them somewhere warm (22-28°C) for 2-3 weeks.