top of page
Vinegar Eel Culture Kit – Complete Live Food Setup
Make feeding your fry easier than ever with our Vinegar Eel Culture Kit, a complete, ready-to-use setup designed for hassle-free culturing and harvesting. Vinegar eels are one of the simplest and most reliable live foods for small fish and fry, and this kit gives you everything you need to produce a continuous supply.
 
What’s Included
  • 1-Gallon Culture Jar with Vented Lid – Provides ideal oxygen exchange while keeping your culture protected.
  • Fine Mesh Harvesting Net – Designed for effortless vinegar eel collection without transferring excess vinegar to your tank.
  • Live Vinegar Eel Starter Sample – A strong, active starter culture ready to expand into a thriving, long-lasting colony.
 
How It Works
Using the kit is incredibly simple:
  • Grow your culture in the included jar.
  • Use the fine mesh net to scoop vinegar eels from the culture.
  • Tap the net gently on the jar to remove excess vinegar.
  • Rinse or dip the net in a cup of water and feed—or place the net directly into the aquarium for the fry to graze.
This method keeps your feedings clean, controlled, and efficient, without the mess of pouring vinegar into your tank.
 
Why You’ll Love This Kit
  • Continuous food supply for your fry and small fish
  • Beginner-friendly, minimal maintenance
  • Clean harvesting with low vinegar contamination
  • Perfect for bettas, guppies, tetras, killifish, rainbows, and more
 
Grow, harvest, and feed—all with one easy-to-use kit.
 

Vinegar Eel Culture Kit

$39.99Price
Quantity

  • What’s in the Box

    • 1-gallon culture jar with vented lid

    • Fine mesh net

    • Live vinegar eel starter sample

    What You Need (From Home)

    • Apple cider vinegar (unflavored)

    • Dechlorinated water or aged tank water

    • Peeled and sliced apple

    Step 1 – Set Up the Culture

    • Rinse the jar

      • Rinse the 1-gallon jar with hot water to remove any dust.

    • Mix the culture medium

      • Fill the jar with roughly 50% apple cider vinegar and 50% dechlorinated water.

      • You don’t need to fill the entire gallon right away—half to three-quarters full is fine.

    • Add half an apple

      • Drop in a peeled and sliced apple

      • This will slowly feed the culture over time.

    Step 2 – Add the Live Vinegar Eel Sample

    • Introduce the starter

      • Pour the entire live vinegar eel sample into the jar.

    • Install the vented lid

      • Screw on the vented lid that came with your kit.

      • This allows gas exchange while keeping pests and dust out.

    Step 3 – Let the Culture Establish

    • Place the jar

      • Keep at room temperature 65-75 deg F, away from direct sun and extreme heat/cold.

    • Wait for growth

      • The culture typically becomes dense and ready to harvest in 2–4 weeks.

    • Check for activity

      • Shine a light from the side of the jar.

      • Look for clouds of tiny, moving threads near the surface and glass.

    Step 4 – Harvesting with the Fine Mesh Net

    • Scoop from the culture

      • Open the jar.

      • Dip the fine mesh net into the culture and gently scoop so the net fills with liquid and vinegar eels.

    • Tap off excess vinegar

    • Hold the net over the jar and tap it gently on the rim.

    • This lets excess vinegar drip back into the culture while leaving the eels clinging to the net.

    • Choose how to feed:

    Option A – Rinse in a cup

    • Place the net into a small cup of tank water.

    • Swirl or gently move the net; vinegar eels will move out into the water.

    • Use a pipette, turkey baster, or simply pour the cup into the fry tank.

    Option B – Net directly in the tank

    • Place the loaded net directly into the aquarium.

    • A tiny amount of vinegar is usually fine in typical tank volumes

    Step 5 – Routine Maintenance

    • Top off the culture

    • If the level drops, top up with the same 50/50 vinegar and water mix.

    • Refresh the food source

    • Replace the apple pieces if it becomes heavily broken down

    • Scoop it out with a spoon and add a fresh small piece.

    • Avoid over-harvesting

    • You can harvest small amounts frequently, but don’t remove huge amounts of culture regularly.

    • Let the population recover between big harvests.

    Step 6 – Long-Term Care & Backups

    • Make a backup culture

    • Every few months, pour some culture plus eels into a smaller jar with fresh vinegar/water and apple to create a backup.

    • Don’t refrigerate

    • Keep cultures at room temperature for best reproduction.

    • Signs of a healthy culture

    • Smells like mild vinegar and fermentation (not rotten).

    • Visible movement of tiny threads in the liquid, especially at the surface.

    Step 7 – Troubleshooting (Kit)

    • Culture smells rotten or sulfurous (not just vinegar):

      • Remove any obviously rotten fruit. If smell stays bad, it’s safest to discard and restart from a backup culture or new sample.

    • Little to no movement visible:

      • Check temperature (too cold slows them).

      • Let the culture sit undisturbed a few more days and re-check.

    • Lots of mold on top:

      • Skim off mold and replace fruit, or restart a new culture using some clean liquid from below the mold layer.

bottom of page