How To Culture Vinegar Eels For Fish Fry

Learn how to culture vinegar eels, the easiest live food to keep long term for your fish fry.

[@greenthumbaquariums1185]

My needs aren't great, so I use clear beer bottles. I actually do fill them up including into the neck. I find they congregate densely there. Once I've siphoned out as far as my eye dropper can reach, I top up with more water/vinegar. A 6-pack ensures I don't lose all cultures and I rotate through the bottles for a steady supply. I just use them until my fry are big enough for BBS.

[@valiaudet3415]

I learnt somewhere that the floss is attached to a length of fishing line. That way you push it down then up when collecting

[@wallopwildbettath1786]

สุดยอดเลย bro

[@aquahobby1982]

❤ this inspiring me to start my own culture

[@mr.octopus6972]

I don't have access to a starter kit. Where to find them in the wild ?

[@kevinfoth9000]

Your videos are so helpful! Why not use the coffee filter to scoop straight out of the dele container? That would save the water and vinegar mixture and could take one less step, unless I am missing something

[@MakeMoreFish]

That's a good point, you can absolutely do that if the shape of your culture container allows it. The reason I pour a portion of the culture through a filter rather than scooping is that often I want to extract a very large quantity of vinegar eels at one time. That requires filtering a large volume of culture liquid and for early morning feedings I tend to do things as quickly as possible. It's totally situational and you bring up a good way to be more conservative with materials.

[@kevinfoth9000]

@@MakeMoreFish Thanks for the response! That also makes sense-I only have a handful of smaller tanks, so I'm not pulling out very many at once.

[@tookmyhandle2]

After watching your videos and others, I've come to the conclusion that culturing most live foods (especially bbs) is not for me. I can certainly so vinegar eels and paramecium though. I want to breed zebra danios and corydoras. Given my hesitance to use bbs, what would you suggest for feeding the fry of these species (and which food at each developmental stage)? Thanks for great videos!

[@MakeMoreFish]

Paramecium and vinegar eels would be great for danios and not very useful for corydoras. Instead you could start with powdered dry foods and progressively get larger. I would strongly recommend getting some kind of cheap starter kit for brine shrimp and trying them a few times before ruling them out. I was also very hesitant to start hatching them but now wouldn't trade them for anything.

[@jasonericala]

I tried finding a reusable K cup filter like yours but I have had no luck. I did notice white and brown paper liners for reusable K cup filters and since the eels are white i thought the brown paper could make it easier to see the eels. any thoughts?

[@MakeMoreFish]

Maybe brown will make them more visible, it's worth a shot. They are very small though. What I see when I filter them is a visible shimmer as they wiggle around on the filter. They are usually easy to spot. It might also be useful in the mean time to learn the other method of collection where you add clear water to a long necked bottle. See what works better for you

[@jasonericala]

I found the reusable k-cup it's a melitta javajig reusable k-cup, I paid roughly $9 but I see it for less on-line

[@naimac2744]

Temu sells small coffee filter cups for 89p

[@TheSwiftCreek2]

So I went back and watched again. Full vinegar or watered down? What's the fluid mix?

[@MakeMoreFish]

I use 50/50 water and apple cider vinegar.

[@directconnectdc8917]

is it still possible to successfully culture vinegar eels even if i dont have starting culture like you have in the video?

[@MakeMoreFish]

To the best of my knowledge, no, though I've never tried. I just don't think they are naturally occurring in aquariums

[@directconnectdc8917]

@@MakeMoreFish thank you, i highly appreciate your response. 😃

[@georgezgreek]

why not keep the culture in those deli cups? or is there a reason for the bottles ?

[@MakeMoreFish]

Long-necked bottles are for the filter floss harvesting method. Floss at the bottom of the neck, freshwater on top of the floss, vinegar eels rise up into the freshwater and can be extracted.

[@baldeagle8500]

you had starter vinegar eels but we don't have any store or shop to buy these even with your microworm culture..what we can do ?

[@MakeMoreFish]

I would look for them online or from another hobbyist

[@janellwanger3875]

Do I have to have a starter culture? If I don't, won't it just take longer? I'm fine with waiting. And are they okay for molly fry?

[@MakeMoreFish]

In this case you do need a starter culture because they aren't something that would occur naturally in your aquarium. You might be able to find a starter from a local club or hobbyist but I had to order mine online. It was from silkwormshop.com. the good news is, once you have them they take little effort to keep a culture for years. I'm sure molly fry would eat them.

[@MakeMoreFish]

I tried going out looking for unfiltered vinegar that might have eels in it but didn't find any.

[@janellwanger3875]

@@MakeMoreFish ty. I will check out that website.

[@MakeMoreFish]

@@janellwanger3875 I think I was mistaken. I got the vinegar eels here insectsales.com/products/vinegar-eels-8-full-oz-live-food-for-tiny-fish-fry-invertibrates-and-corals?_pos=1&_sid=11742befb&_ss=r

[@janellwanger3875]

@@MakeMoreFish oh good. Cuz I looked on the other site and wasn't quite sure lol. So I ordered some on ebay for 3.50 and free shipping. but now the correct link you sent is in my email. I will try the process, and see if my fish eat them and go from there. Thank you so much for your help. I raise mollies to feed my bluegill and green sunfish. So do you think these eels would be okay for them once in awhile?