Live food cultures, how to... vinegar eels & Microworms

[sarahbella]

Some of you received some culture starters at the auction tonight so i figured id just write a quick little how to just in case its new to anyone

The vinegar eels are so easy.   Get a large jar *i use 1/2 gallon*. Fill it half way up with vinegar (I experimented with white, cider and balsamic.  Cider seems to produce the most for me, balsamic produced the least.  )  Pour in your starter and add a chunk of apple.  punch a hole in the lid and thats it.  you never need to do anything to it except change the apple once in a while and add more vingar as needed.  someone got an onion in theirs, i was out of apples at the time and the onion seemed to do the trick.  In a couple of weeks you will have enough eels to start harvesting daily.

Microworms are a bit more work.  

Cook up some oatmeal, not the instant kind.  The regular old fashioned or quick cooking oats.  You want it pourable, but not soupy. You dont want it dry either.  It may take a few tries to get it right, but you'll learn what  consistency works best for you as you go along.  Once its cooked to the desired consistency pour it into your container and let it cool.   Once cooled sprinkle 5 or 6 grains of yeast onto the surface of the oatmeal.  Now take a q tip or popsicle stick or your fingers and and scrape some worms off the side of the starter culture container and smear them onto the fresh oats.  put a hole in the lid and in a couple of days you will notice all the worms crawling up the side of the new container ready to harvest.  To keep the stink down you'll need to start new cultures every few days.  You CAN leave it a month but ewwww gross, you won't want to wait that long...   I started the one sold at the auction this morning, its loaded, enuff to start 4 or 5 cultures right away..  

Yum yum, ENJOY!!  

Sarah

[pegasus]

Hi Sarah
Could you tell us how to harvest the vinegar eels?

[henry]

Hi sarahbella
I would very much like to get some vinegar eels and Microworms from you if that is possible? Also, I very much liked your method of cultivating daphnia/rotifers/mosquito larvae in the back yard in a gargage bin. I will have to try that too, sounds great, and I like that is easy too. great idea.

could I get a few cultures off you?
thanks
Richard

[Aiglos]

Sarah;

I picked up the vinegar eels and the Microworms;  I don't have any fry at the moment but I could not pass up the deal; Will start practicing right away thank you !

[sarahbella]

Pegasus
Just for you, harvesting the vinegar eels.  

I use a 3ml dropper and suck up some of the eels and drop them into a cupful of tank water.  I then distribute the water amongst my 2 growout tanks.  The small amount of vinegar doesnt seem to bother the fish.  

The other method for larger harvests is to take your vinegar and pour it thru a coffee filter.  You can rinse the eels at this point by pouring some water thru the filter as well.   Pour the strained vinegar back into your culture OR pour it into another jar to start a new culture.  Swish your coffee filter in your tanks to feed fry

Henry, I keep my garbage bin under the apple tree, its like a mini pond in the summer.  I get millions of bloodworms which my fry LOVED when they were in season.   (pm sent)

Aiglos, good luck with those  i hope you have many many fry!

[zapisto]

well i will give a little more sophisticated receipe and some explanation , from my experience since more than 5 years with this live food.

Vinegar eels

What they need: Acidity and sugar
Culture Media: as sarahbella say
- a jar (large or not)
- Cider Vinegar (from all my test it is the best , i will explain later why)
- Piece of apple
- Apple juice (only difference with sarahbella)

Put 3/4 of cider vinegar + 1/3 of apple juice + apple + your starter kit in the jar
put  a "scott towell" on top and put an elastic to maintain it.
this to avoid any bug laid egg in your culture and permit the eels breath. this culture can stay they for month without any maintenance.

How to harvest : that's the hardest part in my opinion.
because the eels are so small and the media so bad you cannot just put a drop in your tank (i try , it was a disaster).
the best way to harvest is to use the fact the eel need to breath

i will come back to explain with picture and good translation ...


Microworm / walter worms

Difference: You will not be able to see any difference between walter worm and microworm , unless you use a microscope and you know what to check, but the difference exist.
Microworms can live in the water for 24 to 30 hours MAX, walter worm will live in the water for 48 to 72 hours and more for a few of them here is the big difference.

What they need: Food and humidity
Culture Media:
- oatmeal (the original one, the cheapest, the less flavor one)
- water
- yeast (optionnal)

mix the yeast and the oatmeal if you want
boil your water.
add water to your oatmeal until you get a good mixture, you want it pourable, but not soupy. you dont want it dry either. when you reach to the desired consistency pour it into your container (dont fill your container  more than a cm) and let it cool. add a tea spoon of your starter to your cantainer put a hole in the lid and in a couple of days you will have billions on worms to harvest.
i recommand start new culture every 2 weeks even if you culture can stay there for 3 or 4 weeks.
yeast make the worm grow faster but but make the mix stink very fast and very badly.
personnaly i dont use yeast and my culture is ready to harvest 48 hours after and i make to culture every 3 weeks or so.

How to harvest: easier then the eels, because the eels are so small and the media so bad you cannot put the mix in your tank, you will notice all the worms crawling up the side of the new container ready to harvest, take a Qtip and get the worm who is on the side , and harvest, this is pure worm with very little media.

Enjoy

[mchagel]

Actually the best way to harvest vinegar eels is with a vacume cleaner bag. I cut off the top of a 2L bottle and use it as a funnel, then I cut off a piece of the bag at least 3" square and place it tightly around the outside of the pop top and hold in place(you could use an elastic) then I use a baster and usually take 2 squeezes and filter through the bag. A vacume cleaner bag filters finer than a coffee filter. I filter directly back into the original culture.
Vinegar eels are extremely tiny, and therefor are only useful for the first little while of the fry life.