How to Care for Your New Yabbie
Aqualand info about Cherax species
|
Yabbie Factoids |
|
|
Origin |
Ausralia |
|
Maximum
Size |
Four or five
inches plus claws |
|
Longevity |
Five years |
|
Housing |
Likes space but will hide under a log |
|
Security |
Hides during day. More active at night. |
|
Temperature |
Room temp fine. Breeds faster when warmer. |
| Sexual Maturity | Females mature sexually their first year. |
| Breeding | Yabbies breed September thru May (14 hours of daylight) |
|
Attitude |
Argumentative but shy burrower |
|
Foods |
Devours plants, flakes, and pelleted foods |
|
Water |
Prefers clean, hard water |
| Tough | Tolerates dry periods and salt in the water |
| US Threats | Herons, bullfrogs, turtles, big fish, Cajuns, each other |
| OZ Threats | Cormorants, herons, kookaburras, ibises |
BB
Ben
Bowden Australia, 2007
Hi
Larry, I
think it's a great idea to include some Australian Slang.A dam
is a pond, but it also a man made one, most dams are holes dug into clay
soil a paddock. A natural wetland that you would also call a pond is
called a Billabong.
I have
taken some pics of a creek near my house and will attach them, but
unfortunately this creek is full of Gambusia which caused the
extinction of the Southern Purple Spotted Gudgeon (Goby). Yabbies
will eat anything. In Australia they are commonly fed all manner of
things, but frozen peas bring out the blue in them, in the wild they eat
mainly plants and algae and any carrion. We have three types of
Yabbie available to keep in Australia: Cherax destructor, the
Common one, Red Claws, which are native to Queensland (Zebra Yabbie) and
the Marron, a particularly delicious Yabbie. It is deep maroon in the
wild, but is also available in blue; this colour is uniform over the whole
body.
Yabbies fed on low quality food, (flakes) will stay small, something
just under an inch, they live but don't thrive, but can breed if they
are old enough, usually only 1 or two babies, this ability has helped
them colonise any low food/water quality areas, including fresh water
rock pools, about a foot square.
Yabbies are best kept in tannin stained water, and prefer the water to
be slightly acidic, like most Australian water. The Marron likes it at
6.0 pH, when kept in tannin stained water they go a beautiful dark brown
with blue highlight. I use mallee root to stain my water, but you could
use any of the Malaysian driftwoods to the same effect.
Well I
don't know if you have tried but you could keep them outside over there,
my pond gets down to minus 3 (Celsius) in winter and they do fine.
Anything else you a little unclear on?
I will
get you some dam pics soon, have been a little short on time, haven't
had time to go out of the city.
Cheers,
Present Day. I lost contact with Ben but have accumulated beau coup pics of various Australian yabbies. I've seen lists containing 47 different Charax species. I'd be hard pressed to ID them by species, but common names work well also.
LA
6-inch
Cherax Peknyi,
sold as Aussie zebra lobster.
LA
LA
LA
LA
LA
LA
LA
Eating a goldfish.
LA
LA
LA
LA
During moulting process.
LA
Great "six pack."
LA
LA
This only works with in the soft-shell stste.
LA
Newly shed yabbie with discarded exoskeleton.
LA
LA
LA
Very recent shed.
LA
Good walls make good neighbors.
LA
Apricot yabbie -- very pretty.
LA
Apricot yabbie kept under bright lights that grew algae under his
exoskeleton.
LA
After his molt.
LA
His former "skin."
LA
Not so hard to handle at this soft-shell stage.
LA
Next day hardening but still not pinching.
LA
We returned him to his home.
LA
Prettier and larger than before his shed.
The sex of yabbies can be determined externally by the
position of the reproductive or genital openings. The male
gonopores, or sexual organs, are located at the base of the
fifth pair, or rearmost pair, of walking legs (pereiopods)
while the female gonopores are found at the base of the
third, or middle, pair of legs (see Figure 3). Breeding
maturity is reached when the yabby is approximately 6-10
cm in length.
LA
Orange yabbie.
LA
Not much of a struggler.
LA
© 2007,
© 2010
LA Productions
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