Tiger Crab - Cherax peknyi

Cherax peknyi (formerly known as Cherax sp. zebra or Cherax sp. tiger) is without a doubt one of the most striking and particularly beautifully marked crayfish from Papua and Papua New Guinea. The  with 10-12 cm body length rather medium sized tiger crayfish, also called zebra c rayfish, is a quite peaceful fellow with very interesting social behavior. Cherax peknyi often lives a bit secluded and is rather crepuscular at the beginning. If it is not disturbed much, it can be seen especially at feeding times but also more often during the day. With its light to bluish claws, orange joints, blue-grey to brown-orange carapace and dark abdomen with light bands Cherax peknyi looks absolutely fascinating. Because of small differences in the width of these bands, it was previously thought that they might be two different species  (tiger crabs and zebra crabs). These variants come from different locations, but they both belong to the species Cherax peknyi. The males of Cherax peknyi have somewhat more bulky claws than the females, but can be determined with certainty only by their sexual openings. These so-called gonopores are located between the attachments of the third pair of legs in males, in female tiger crabs they are located further back, at the attachment of leg pair number five.

Cherax pekni can be socialized with peaceful ornamental fish and dwarf shrimp without problems. Snails are part of its natural diet, it likes to crack them. The tiger shrimp does not get along with crabs, large-armed shrimps and fan shrimps. If you also keep crayfish from the American continent, you must take good care that neither they nor the water from their aquarium come into contact with Cherax peknyi. They can transmit crayfish plague, an algal fungus that would inevitably kill Cherax peknyi.

A pair of these beautiful and interesting crayfish can be kept in a well and varied aquarium with an edge length of 80 cm or more. Cherax peknyi does not eat plants, but if there are not enough hiding places, it can happen that it digs a cave and digs up plants. This can be prevented with a good setup with roots, stones and crayfish bur rows. The aquarium must be covered without gaps so that the tiger crayfish cannot escape. Contrary to expectations, they climb extremely well and also come up in places where you do not expect them to. Cherax peknyi tolerates a wide range of water values and a pH of 6.5 to 8. The temperature should not drop below 20 °C even for a short time and should not exceed 25 °C permanently either.

The tiger crayfish is not difficult to breed, but the gestation period of the females is quite long, up to six weeks. Between 40 and 80 young crayfish hatch, which remain with the mother after hatching and only become independent after a few days. They grow very slowly and take a long time to become sexually mature. Since they are easily cannibalistic, a lot of hiding places are needed in the rearing tank. A layer of brown autumn leaves is very useful, it not only provides cover from conspecifics, but also food.

Furthermore, growing Cherax peknyi eat mainly animal food, while the adults prefer almost exclusively vegetable food. They gladly accept special crayfish food, but also all kinds of sticks, foliage and vegetables like pumpkin or spinach, scalded nettles, dandelion, frozen food, ..

Our food recommendation: Freshwater crayfish have a very varied diet in the wild. The Natureholic Crab Feed Sticks contain in a biologically balanced form only those ingredients that these crayfish in this or similar form to their natural food spectrum. This naturally supports and promotes moulting, growth and reproduction. Due to their protein content they are ideally suited for omnivorous crayfish of the genera Procambarus, Cambarus, Cambarellus, Astacus and the Cherax crayfish from Australia, which are basically omnivores that like to eat animal as well as vegetable food. The crayfish of the genus Cherax from Papua also like to eat a portion of animal food when they are young, but later they switch mainly to plant food.

Our plant recommendation: Use the following for planting NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planarians and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend for fish keeping the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and keeping.