help with the brittle star

Tab

Reefing newb
Ok I have a brittle star and he's a little terrorist. I bought a sand starfish and the other day I fed my brittle star and while I was watching him he ran over there and attacked the sand star. The next day my sand star had 3 legs left. WTH!!! I don't have another tank to put the brittle star in. I've probably had the tank for almost a year now. He just recently started eating everything. And it's been about a month now, but I used to have about 4 baby brittles in there. Haven't saw them in awhile. Now I have about 3-5 hermit crabs left. I don't know what to do. He's about the only thing that's survived and I don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong or if it's him. I don't want to get rid of him incase that's all I can keep. And he's kinda sentimental I guess.You know, one of my babies. If anyone knows of a type of fish I can put in with him, it would really help. BTW it's a 30 gal. Tanks :)
 
Unfortunately, that's common of certain brittle stars as they get bigger. That's one of the reasons I've never added one to my tank. On a side note, a tank your size couldn't support a sand sifting starfish, it may have been dying and other animals started picking at the dying parts.
 
And that little guy is pretty big too. What should I do with him? Would he survive if I chunked him in the ocean? I doube I would have the heart to do it though lol. Do you know of anything I can put in there that'll help with algea control? I'm starting to get that bubble algae, and hair algae. I think he ate my snails too. And the thing is, when I got the aquarium from someone, there was just him and a goby and alot of hermits. He's killed them all except a few hermits. He even killed the goby...no bones or anything to be seen. Why would he start doing that all of a sudden? Did I tick him off or something? All my damsels are gone and I bought 4 snails and they are all gone too.
 
What color is he? I know that the green brittle star is not reef safe, and is very predatory. So hopefully you don't have that one.
 
+1 Smitty. I had a green brittle star and for awhile, he was fine. I hand fed him meaty pieces and it was pretty cool to watch him eat. Alas, the good times did not last....he ate my yellow watchman goby!
 
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