brittle star

[ollie51]

will brittle stars eat crabs & snails i have one in my reef who was about 1 inch in diameter who is now tripled in size and my crabs and snails seem to be disappearing

 

[ronj]

i would say no....i don't think stars are carnivore's...what kind of crabs and snail are going missing???

 

[Brenden]

Never had a problem with them (reg ones) bothering anything. The green ones are known fish killers though.

 

[ronj]

really????? i would have never thought that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Brenden]

Most definitely The green ones are real aggressive. They kill/eat fish at night while they are sleeping.

 

[steve-s]

Is it possible, most definately. How likely will depend on the actual species of the star you have. If it's a predaceous star species the more common it is for it to actively hunt. Especially if competing heavily with tank mates for limited food sources.

Have a look through these links to see what you might have. It will help.
http://images.google.ca/images?q=Op...-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi
http://images.google.ca/images?q=Op...-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi
http://images.google.ca/images?q=Op...-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi
http://images.google.ca/images?q=Op...-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi
http://images.google.ca/images?q=Op...-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi
http://images.google.ca/images?q=Op...-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi

A much more likely scenario would be the star is cleaning up after whatever might be killing the snails and hermits. The most common suspects being true crabs, stamatopods or pistols shrimp. There's a very slight possibility or a predaceous snail or worm but not too apt to go after hermits.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Slickdonkey]

I have a harlequin starfish that I suspect is a serial killer. At the very least he's not good about cleaning up the incriminating evidence, because he sloppily leaves a pile of snail and crab corpses next to his rock.

Not very sneaky at all, if you ask me.