Vinegar Eel Starter Live Culture

Seasonal shipping notice: Due to high temperatures commonly experienced during the summer months and freezing temperatures during winter I am not able to guarantee live delivery on live cultures at these times.  For customers in urgent need of cultures and willing to take a chance I will still continue to ship cultures upon request.  As a general guideline... microworms and vinegar eels tend to ship well at temperatures between 1C (34F) and up to a maximum of 30C (86F).  Grindal worms between 1C (34F) and up to 27C (80F).  White Worms are the most heat sensitive and ship best between 1C (34F) up to a maximum of 20C (68F).  Daphnia, Moina, Brine Shrimp and Rotifer eggs are safe to ship at all temperatures. Please keep in mind that the temperatures in a mail truck or mail box on a sunny day may be significantly higher than the outdoor air temperature.

This offering is for a 30ml baggie of Vinegar eel starter culture.  These are the lowest maintenance live food that I culture and they sure come in handy when you have small fry that are picky feeders.  These are very similar in size and appearance to microworms however they have one large advantage and that is that they swim freely in the water column where as microworms will sink to the bottom of the tank. Vinegars eels don't reproduce as quickly microworms and therefore it is a good idea to plan ahead and establish your vinegars in advance of when you will need them.  The nice thing about vinegar eels is that it only takes a few minutes to set up a culture and after that no further maintenance is needed for many months.  

To set up a new culture you will need some Apple Cider Vinegar, an equivalent amount of bottled water, a few small pieces of apple and a starter culture of Vinegar Eels.  To start a culture mix 50% water and 50% apple cider vinegar together in a plastic bottle.  The bottles that the water and apple cider vinegar come in will work perfectly for this. For each 100ml of culture I add one piece of apple cut into a cube approximately 1cm squared.  Then add the vinegar eel starter culture.  Sit the cap loosely top of the bottle and you are done.  Find a warm spot to keep the culture will encourage faster reproduction of the Vinegar eels.  I keep my cultures on top of the fridge in my fishroom.  The only maintenance I do on my cultures is to add more fresh apple about once every six months. Cultures can be maintained for years in this manner without having to restart. 

To harvest Vinegar Eels simply pour some of the culture through a coffee filter, rinse with fresh water and then feed to your fry.

This item ships for free.  Canada shipping only.