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Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!gatech!hubcap!labrea!decwrl!mejac!gryphon!richard
From: richard@gryphon.COM (Richard Sexton)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,alt.aquaria,talk.bizarre
Subject: Fruit Flys
Keywords: zzzzz
Message-ID: <8648@gryphon.COM>
Date: 12 Nov 88 05:56:51 GMT
Organization: Trailing Edge Technology, Redondo Beach, Ca.
Lines: 58


I'm having a problem with fruit flies.

Apparantly they are a wonderfull food for tropical fish, so I set
about recently trying to establish some sort of practical method
of culturing them.

What I have so far is: a large tupperware container in which I left
about 3 dozen grapes. It's in an office at work where nobody will
notice, inside a book case with glass doors.

I put the grapes there about 3 - 4 weeks ago, and have been noticing
a small increase in the number of fruit flies.

I checked it today, and we seem to have quite a crop.

Now, the problem is, how do I get them into an aquarium. My first thought
was to try to train them. It didnt take long to figure out this wasn't
working. Unruley buggers, fruit flies.

My next attempt was to cover the tupperware bowl and place a jar
next to it with a grape in it. Hopefully they would not be able to 
get back in the tupperware container and would all congregate in the
jar, which I could quickly close. 

Once I have them in a jar, they're as good as dinner, as apparantly
all you do is add a bit of water, shake the jar up, and pour it in 
an aquarium. Thus, you dont want a lot of grape goop in the jar.

At any rate, they ignored the jar completely and all snuck back into
the tupperware container.

So, my questions:


	What is it they are attracted to ? There's an amyl acetate
	kind of smell coming from the grape slush. Is this what does
	it ?

	DO any of you peple raise fruit flies as part of your jobs ?
	Surely you have a better method than this.

	I've heard a bit about the wingless drosphilia, but I understand
	that there are two strains - a warm one and a cold one and
	the warm one regains it's wings above 70 F. Not much use.
	They CAN'T go in the fridge. I'm still in trouble about that
	little incident with the worms and the spanish rice.

	Which begs the question, how do they regain their wings ?
	Is this a mutation that ``fixes'' itself ?

A prompts response would be most appreciated, as, judging from the number
of pupae in and around the container, there are going to be a LOT of
flies when I go into work monday.

-- 
        ``You must have an IQ of at least half a million''  -- Popeye
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM    {backbone...err, well connected site}!gryphon!richard