brittle star eating my crab

I bought two sally lightfoot crabs and a brittle star about a month ago. I just found my starfish with his arms wrapped around the dead crab fixin to make dinner out of it I suppose. Should I leave the crab in there? I'm leaving in the morning for a week and i dont want to come home to any problems... Is it possible that the starfish killed the crab, or do you think the crab died and the starfish just found him? I had 2 of these crabs, I saw one of them yesterday, I wonder if hes still around....

Its pretty cool to watch, the brittle star moves so quickly, its like watching national geographic.

 

tried to upload the shot of him gettin eaten but my comp is not coaperating...

 

Depending on the size of the star it could definitely eat a sally light foot. It might have killed it too. I would leave it in there and let the star finish his dinner. Bigger brittle stars will take down shrimps, crabs, small fish, basically anything they can grab. Good luck.

 

sorry for your loss but enjoy the show. you shouldnt have any issue if it eats the crab quickly

 

my opinion is that the brittle star found the dead crab. i have had a brittle star for about 14 months and haven't seen any issues, however, i have heard bad things about a green brtittle. what color is yours?

 

I agree. I don't know if that's really true but the green ones do seem a bit nastier.

 

its brown, and at least has at least a six inch diametor. I thought these creatures were herbavors and ate only the algea and crap in the tank... Should I feed this thing meat more often?
He's ripping the bottom sell open right now...

 

Brittle stars are omnivores. They will eat pretty much anything they can get to. You can feed it meaty foods if you like but usually they can scavenge and get leftovers from your fish.

 

My brittle killed a few of my rock hiding fish. Now that I feed a silver side once a week he leaves everyone alone. And he is a black brittle.

 

Could the shell be a shed by chance? Didnt see a star in the pic and a freshly shed crusty would be hiding so you wouldnt see him. My brittle star jumps on the chance to eat the freshly shed cleaner shrimp shell. Just a thought.