green brittle star problem?

[topaz330]

ok i maybe didn't do all my research on this guy but it seems like my green brittle star is trying to eat anything it can get its tenticles on. its alittle over a year old and about a good 10" to a foot spread out. yesterday i introduced some horseshoe crabs and the thing grabbed one and covered the whole thing until the poor horseshoe fought his way out. i'm starting to slowly getting into corals a bit and worried the starfish will eat that, or even my inverts. anyone have experience with these guys?

 

[tinderly]

I have no personal erperience with them because I read up on them and they are tank killers. They will eat just about anyone they can get ahold of. They are famous for sneaking up on and eating sleeping fish.

 

[ophiura]

They are known predators in the wild. They definitely should be spot fed, but this may not eliminate predation. I have 3 with no issues but it is an individual variation.
However, new animals in the tank are stressed, and smell stressed. They are always at risk. In general it is not a coral eater. It is a risk to small fish and shrimp in particular.
I strongly discourage, BTW, keeping horseshoe crabs. Their lives are very short in our tanks. They tend to be blown around, are natural bulldozers, and eat a lot of beneficial critters in a sand bed.

 

[topaz330]

gotcha, well if anyone in the nj area wants a big brittle feel free to PM me.

 

[flower]

I have two huge brittle stars. I love them. I feed them a chunk of shrimp about once a week. I have never had any problem. I have many crabs and two cleaner shrimp.
The only thing that needs to worry about being eaten are dead things. They are part of my cleaning crew. If something dies in the rock...they get for me.