| The materials you will need are:
1) Bottle with long neck.
2) 1 cup apple cider vinegar.
3) 1 cup water.
4) 1/3 cup apple juice or a few pieces of peeled apple.
5) Filter-floss plug with extraction string.
6) Push stick to slide floss down neck.
7) Syringe to extract eels in water from neck.
8) Spare bottle for extra growing solution.
Mix one cup each of treated water and apple cider vinegar.
Add ¼ cup of apple juice as
food or a few pieces of fresh apple peeled, but not so much that the flask is filled to
the
neck. Remove some vinegar-water, if needed, as the eels do need oxygen and the neck
of the flask is deliberately too narrow to provide enough surface area. The final
population
will depend on the amount of surface area available. Any removed will be quickly replaced
in a vigorously growing culture. The initial seeding with new eels may take several weeks
to build a full air-limited population. After a few weeks, a cloud can be seen below the
surface of the solution in the flask. With good eyes (or a magnifier) and a bright back
light,
millions of tiny worms can be seen squirming in a more-or-less vertical position just
below
the surface. Pour surplus solution from a separate storage jar (or water if it’s the
first time)
to bring the surface of the liquid to just within the neck of the flask. Push the floss
plug
down to barely contact the surface Add water to the neck to fill it to the top. Wait a few
hours (overnight is ideal) and the oxygen-starved worms will wriggle up through the floss
and
swim up into the clear water to get enough air. Now you can suck worms out in clear water
to feed your fish. Making ready for the Next Feeding Remove the floss plug by pulling it
out
with the string. Pour enough liquid out to get a sizeable surface area, again. The excess
liquid can be kept in any clean bottle, sealed with a floss plug. The eels will grow in it
as well
as the bottle. Squeeze liquid out of the floss and replace in the neck to block fumes from
reaching the room. Lightly replace the cork, if desired. Store both bottles away from
bright light,
until you can feed again. This time, you will put the surplus from the spare bottle back
into the
flask to get the surface up into the neck. Add a bit of water if evaporation calls for it.
The initial
solution will work for months. If production drops, add a little apple juice. If it gets
too cloudy
and full of mulm, make up a new batch in a quart jar, seeded with some clean worms, and
replace the dirty one with the clean new one as soon as the population appears to be
growing ok.
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