Choclate Chip sea star

I think my starfish ate all my red and blue leg crabs is this possible?

 

i dont see why not. i hope you dont have any corals or fancy shrimps.

 

Normal for a chocolate chip star. They are known to feed on small inverts and soft corals.

Starfish rule: never buy one with bumps or points.

 

No corals yet but im working that way setting up a second tank that is 75 gal on wens for reef so my star will stay in my FOWLR tank. Thanks for the help

 

wow good note for me i was looking into getting one in a couple of mouths.

 

lol I wonder why they where slow dissapearing one at a time and my star is looking fat

 

Only if they were already dead.

Starfish need inverts that are slow to respond and slow to move to enable them to actually catch and hold them.

Chocolate starfish are not reef safe as they can eat sessile inverts like clams. If these were hermit crabs I doubt the starfish is to blame and would else where for the cause of their demise.

 

@corailline not to argue but thats not neccesarily true about being dead, they could have just molted or about to molt when he got them, or they were sleeping, even if there in a shell the stars can still get to them.

for whoever is going to get the 75gal reef, a pair of harlequin shrimp would be a sweet addition if you have some stars in FOWLR, just cut a leg off of a star every now and then and the shrimp will eat it, just make sure you have like 5 stars LOL

 

So the likely hood that they were molting and the starfish came across them during the vulnerable time is more likely than they died from some other cause?

 

not that they died, just that my crabs are extremly slow when molting, like if you've ever kept a lizard or a trantula, when they shed they are extremely vunerable, due to the skin or scales or exoskeleton are much softer, and before the molt they usually stay in one place for up to 6 hours depending on size and during the molt they cant move until there done, which leaves them sitting ducks. IMO if you have a NON reef safe starfish, even your fish should becareful