Help! My pink Brittlestar killed/ate my Astrea snail!!

[vertex]

I added a new small pink brittle star a few days ago and it has hid inside my live rock since then. There are a few openings where his legs usually hang out so I know he's in there. One of the openings is the daytime hiding spot for one of my astrea snails where he always sits.

Anyway, the brittle star ripped the snail from his shell and was eating him this morning!! Is this normal? Is it going to eat my other snails eventually as well? That's expensive food for such a small brittle (only about 2.5" legs)... I attached a picture below, you can see the snail's body under his legs on the right.

 

[scuba_steve]

i have two and dont think ive ever seen mine do that but i also have to many snails to keep track of ! i do once a week drop some shrimp on the star for him to eat
i lost a maroon clown the other day and the star was all over him !

 

[vertex]

Thanks keith, ya I fed him once with shrimp as well since I was concerned he wasn't coming out of the live rock. Do yours spend most of there time in the sandbed or live rock. I hope he will come out and help sift my sandbed, after all, that's why I got him, not to eat my snail!!

 

[scuba_steve]

yea they hide alot :-/ one likes the same rock but does move around some ! not what i would have thought though ! kinda funny when i moved the rock to move the tank i never seen a star move to fast to the other side of the tank was funny to see him scurry heheh fast when they want to be !
id say keep him fed with some shrimp from time to time that should help !
but at the same time ya can get 100 snails for $30 ! dont make it any better though
http://www.reeftopia.com/Crabs_and_Snails218.html