Living in the wild can be hard. Finding food and staying safe aren't easy. Each day, animals struggle to survive in their habitats. Not all animals get by on their own. Some animals form a close partnership with other kinds of animals. These pairings are called symbiotic   relationships. In a symbiotic relationship, the animals depend on each other. One animal helps the other meet its needs. Sounds good, right? Not always. Some animals are not very kind to their partners. In some cases, one animal meets its needs but hurts its partner. Take ticks, for example. These insects suck blood to live. To get blood, they attach themselves to other kinds of animals. Ticks can pass germs that cause disease instead of helping their hosts. In other relationships, animals don't treat their partners so poorly. Both animals benefit from living with the other animal. Small animals called cleaner shrimps have found a way of helping fish at coral reefs. As their name suggests, the shrimps clean the fish. They hang out at what scientists call a cleaning station. A fish stops by. Then a shrimp climbs onto the fish and even steps into the fish's mouth. The shrimp uses its tiny claws to pick stuff off the fish's body. That can include dead skin, tiny pieces of food, and wee creatures that can hurt the fish. The fish gets a nice cleaning. The shrimp enjoys a tasty meal of fish trash. Small birds called plovers are also in the cleaning business. They have big customers-crocodiles. Crocs have long snouts   filled with sharp teeth. Cleaning them is tricky. When a croc opens its mouth, the plover hops right in. The croc does not snap its snout shut.Instead, it lets the plover eat small, harmful animals attached to the crocodile's teeth. The plover gets an easy meal while the croc gets clean teeth. Why do the cleaner shrimps clean the fish?
To get fish trash for food. To eat wee creatures. To help fish go out of coral reefs. To get food for fish.