The diet of the freshwater crayfish varies with age, but predominantly consists of decaying wood, leaves and their associated microbes. They may also eat small fish, insects, rotting animal flesh and other detritus when available. "A. gouldi" is very long-lived, surviving for up to 60 years. It has previously been reported to attain weights of up to and measure over long; however, in recent years the majority of larger specimens are . When fully mature the species has no natural predators due to its large size, while smaller individuals can be prey of platypus, river blackfish and rakali.