Other Species among the Fish

Here you can learn about the other types of creatures that you may house with your fishes in an aquarium. These creatures come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Some can be housed peacefully with fish- while others not so much. Some like snails are actually needed while others like crabs are best avoided with fish.

Snails

These slow moving creatures are common in aquaria and are needed to eat the algae that forms on the glass over time obstructing view. Apple Snails are common aquarium choices. They are distinguishable by their yellow shells (they can also be other colours, but yellow is most common in Bangladesh). They can be bought at the cheap 40-100 per pair. A pair is good enough for any average sized aquarium.  Overpopulation of snails may lead to uncontrolled breeding of snails resulting in them turning into pests. So stick to a limit of at max 4. 2 is best. 
These snails can grow about an inch in shell radius. They will not eat algae but dead carcass and leftover foods instead. They will attempt to eat baby shrimps and also eat the new small leaves of trees. They aren't planted friendly as they are too heavy and can often break leaves or stems of plants. These are preferable for community tanks.

Compatibility Chart

Lobsters

The blue lobster that is found in aquarium hobby is actually not a true lobster, but rather a blue color crayfish.

Like its name suggest, the Blue lobster is blue in color and shades of blue vary from bright electric blue to a duller bluish white. Other then their unique coloration, they are highly similar to other crayfish and lobsters. By maturity, Blue Florida Crayfish achieve lengths of 15 centimeters. They can also be kept in tanks with fishes. They are best kept alone unless there is enough space for 2 or more of them. Lobsters without proper space would generally fight against each other even killing in the process. They also come in red or white colors pairs of which cost about 500 in Bd. They will not harm fish unless they are sick or floored for some reason. Even fry are safe once mobile. Lobsters need a cave to make a home.  They will eat any food that sinks to the floor. 
These can come in other colours as well like red, white, yellow and tiger(a mixture of black and orange stripes).
Dwarf lobsters will be slightly larger than fire red shrimps and aren't harmful to fish due to small size. Example: the Mexican dwarf lobster.

Turtles

Turtles are a common favorite in Bangladesh for aquariums. They can live in aquariums with the fish. But they will eat any live vegetation you have in the tank so you can feed them turtle food or spinach.  They will also attempt to eat the tails and fins of most fish so host turtles at your own risk. Do not clean turtles if their shells grow algae. Your other aquarium inhabitants will take care of that. Pignosed turtles are mostly vegetarian and fully aquatic which is a popular choice for aquarists.

Crabs

Crabs are not meant for normal aquariums. Its best you never add them and avoid them at all costs. They require a lot of space is messy and posses at threat to fishes and snails in the tank. Hermit Crabs can be kept though costing about 500 taka each, but MUST be placed in a Marine Tank.  
If you can get regular river crabs best not house them with small fish which would endanger the fish and best not house them with monsters which would in turn endanger the crabs themselves.

Newts 

Newts are rare in Bangladesh but are sometimes kept in aquariums. The most available and convenient one for aquariums are the Firebelly Species. They come in 2 variations ; Japanese and Chinese. Firebelly newts are totally black from head to tail from the top (bird's eye view) and have an intricate design of black on red on the bottom (sometimes orange or yellow is also seen). They grow to a size of about 5 inches in aquariums. As a protective mechanism their skin exerts a toxin by the name of Tetrodotoxin (TTX). This toxin in fatal when ingested and causes the victim to suffocate to death within 6 hours. But that's the adults' toxin effect. For the juveniles they would have to be swallowed whole to cause such an effect. So Always wash your hands with soap after handling them. 

Newts have a porous skin so its best if you wash your hands before you touch them as well, this will ensure that both of you remain safe from germs and diseases. Newts are attracted to things that move so for feeding bloodworms or horsehair worms are preferable. They also accept pellet foods and are entirely carnivorous, which means you can easily house them in a planted tank. 

Do not keep them in a community tank unless you are certain the fish won't harm the newts or vice versa as newts might take a snap at the tail or fins of fishes and if the fish is small enough devouring it completely. 

You MUST keep something for them to float upon. Remember that they aren't fish but amphibia so they require some dry land to walk upon. If that is impossible then have floating plants for them at the very least.

It is best if you can house your newts in a vivarium where they get a lot more land than in an aquarium.

Shrimps

If any advice is to be given then the first recommendation would be to buy a sponge filter. Biological filtration is paramount in keeping and breeding shrimp and setting up a simple air-driven sponge filter is the simplest "upgrade" that you can make to your tank. Not only does it promote beneficial bacteria, but the break in the water surface also provides oxygenation. You can never have too much filtration in a shrimp tank but there is something call too much overflow so be careful. Shrimps love moss thickets. Try providing these as well. Java moss works fine. Here's a video of my tank with java moss

If you do not intend to create a full shrimp tank but want to enhance the beauty of your planted or community tank there are some things that are worth knowing. Firstly shrimps come in a very wide range of colours. You can get :

• Fire Red
• Tangerine 
• Yellow
• Dark Blue
• Black
• Rilli (White and Red)
• White
• Red Cherry Shrimp (RCS)

Fire Reds and RCS are most common as they have the same parents. Fire reds when bred give 20% fire reds and 80% RCS roughly; which is why fire reds cost much more than RCS does. You can have splashes of bright red in your planted tank housing these. They breed quite easily given the conditions are proper.

Tangerine, yellow and dark blue shrimps along with white shrimps breed quite easily as well. Rilli shrimps on the other hand require a bit more care and attention.

Large fish will attack your shrimps- like betta for example. Even peaceful fish like cardinal tetras will attack fry when they get a chance. Do not house any large fish with shrimps. Especially no lobsters or turtles!