Crabs eating brittle star?

[Holy handgrenade]

I ordered a small brittle star along with a red matrix crab and sally light foot crab. In the acclimation bucket i caught the red matrix eating legs off the poor star! Needless to say that i separated the 2 and the matrix is now in a small tank for the time being. The brittle star has legs about 1.5" long. I now am noticing that the sally light foot is picking at his legs sticking out of the rocks. I have no idea what to do, i cant get the brittle star out of the tank because hes always hiding in the rocks. Do you think that the red matrix will eat a larger brittle star? I want to keep all of them but of course not at the cost of causing the other one being torn apart . Please help me. Anyone else had the same problem?

 

[blaxsun]

If he’s tasty, possibly. Hard to say. Did it actual eat the legs off or just nip at them? I like to try and keep my crabs happy by wrapping some nori onto small flat rocks so they can nibble away at it. If you feed your crabs well they’ll tend to leave things alone (but not always).

 

[Holy handgrenade]

If he’s tasty, possibly. Hard to say. Did it actual eat the legs off or just nip at them? I like to try and keep my crabs happy by wrapping some nori onto small flat rocks so they can nibble away at it. If you feed your crabs well they’ll tend to leave things alone (but not always).

He literally tore 2 legs off of the poor star. If he had more food at his reach like algae and nori ,do you think the red matrix and emerald crabs (yes i want those too) will pass up the star?

 

[blaxsun]

He literally tore 2 legs off of the poor star. If he had more food at his reach like algae and nori ,do you think the red matrix and emerald crabs (yes i want those too) will pass up the star?

Emeralds, maybe. I honestly couldn’t say about the matrix. I’ve lost starfish, but mainly to disease and not any reef inhabitants.

 

[RedReefer]

Emeralds, maybe. I honestly couldn’t say about the matrix. I’ve lost starfish, but mainly to disease and not any reef inhabitants.

Hey , Aren’t Emerald and Matrix crabs are the same? Just picking ?

 

[blaxsun]

Hey , Aren’t Emerald and Matrix crabs are the same? Just picking ?

Matrix or Mithrax? What color are yours? My Emerald crabs are dark green and predominantly algae eaters. They aren’t really inquisitive about anything unless it’s green and smells like seaweed...

 

[RedReefer]

Mithrax, and I’ve had both colors in the past , I was always under the impression they were both Mithrax crabs?

 

[blaxsun]

Mithrax, and I’ve had both colors in the past , I was always under the impression they were both Mithrax crabs?

Well, my green Emeralds have never touched any of my starfish. Neither have my algae, gold dot, blue leg, scarlet, orange leg, sally lightfoot, halloween or strawberry crabs. Even the 3” coral banded shrimp has zero f*cks to give. And when starfish have lost legs they’ve been left alone (detached legs and the starfish). Which isn’t to say that they might - just that mine haven’t.

I have acclimated the occasional starfish and crab together, and it’s never been an issue (at least for me). Maybe the crabs were just severely malnourished and overly hungry? One never truly knows how well fed our reef inhabitants may have been fed prior to receipt.

 

[Holy handgrenade]

Mithrax, and I’ve had both colors in the past , I was always under the impression they were both Mithrax crabs?

Woops i read matrix and not Mithrax . Well this one that i have is apparently a close relative to the emerald. Should i try to introduce the crab back into my DT if i feed him lots of nori/fish food? Hes a really cool looking fella, would love to see him in the main tank

 

[blaxsun]

Woops i read matrix and not Mithrax . Well this one that i have is apparently a close relative to the emerald.

Unfortunately my experience is limited to the Emerald variety. Starfish are notoriously hard to keep in captivity. Crabs, not so much...