Tag Archives: snowden

Cherax snowden

18. January 2021

The diversity of the crayfishes of New Guinea is hard to keep track of. Most difficult is the decision, whether a freshly imported form is a color variant of a long known species or a new species; because the color variance within the species is enormous.

Cherax snowden was known as Cherax sp. “Orange Tip” for quite some time before its scientific description. The orange tips of the claws are a good identifying feature of the species, except for the completely orange color variant that became known as “Irianto Red” (see https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/cherax-snowden-irianto-red-and-cherax-holthuisi/)

The Orange Tip is a very good crayfish to keep and breed in the aquarium. The only thing to know is that crayfish often have quite idiosyncratic ideas about how an aquarium should be set up and like to redecorate it. And they usually consider plants as food. But such trivialities one looks after these beauties with pleasure, isn’t it?

For our customers: the animals have code 481442 on our stockiest. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer

Cherax snowden “Irianto Red” and Cherax holthuisi

15. July 2019

These intensively colored crayfish originate from Papua New Guinea, where they are found on the Vogelkop Peninsula. „Irianto Red” is a colour variant of the Cherax snowden, which was only scientifically described in 2015, while Cherax holthuisi already received its scientific name in 2006; before that, C. holthuisi was known as “apricot crayfish“, while C. snowden was known in the hobby as Cherax sp. “Orange Tip” before its scientific description. Pictures of the “normal” colored C. snowden can be found here: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/fischarchiv/31-krebse-garnelen-krabben-muscheln-schnecken/cherax_sp_orange_tip_en/

Both species occur in nature in the neighbourhood, but are ecologically differently positioned, since C. holthuisi is rather living underground. Therefore the two crayfish species live – scientifically expressed – sympatrically (i.e. in the same occurrence area) but not syntopically (i.e. in the same biotope). We receive both species mostly mixed as wild catches, because they really look extraordinarily similar. The easiest way to distinguish them is by eye size, the eyes of C. holthuisi are much smaller than those of C. snowden. 

The bright orange colouring of C. snowden “Irianto Red” is – as far as we know – pure in offspring. However, when putting together breeding pairs you have to be careful not to put together mixed pairs (snowden/holthuisi), in the aquarium Cherax species can hybridize with each other. Cherax holthuisi is quite colour-variable, besides the orange ones there are also grey, whitish, yellow or bluish individuals.

For our customers: C. snowden “Irianto Red” has code 481490, C. holthuisi code 483052 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.

Text & photos: Frank Schäfer