legendairy fish of buddy don: bidshicka

a while back i writ a lil item bout a tank of cichlids i been keepin since 1994, witch that articull wuz bout a fish name of brownie. thays a nuther fish that deeserves a few wurds on a counta how hes dun pulled off sum tricks me n miz bd aint never seen befor.

tiz a blue pseudotropheus acei name of bidshicka, witch we gut the fish rite befor 9/11 happend n miz bds son give it the name of bidshicka, witch thats the name of a roma (witch that means gypsy) leader ye kin read bout in this book name of bury me standin. whenever bidshicka wuz a'gittin named, he wuz a tinyy lil thang n twuznt sartin twood make the transishun to the new tank. it tuck im a lease a year, but in the end, bidshicka wuz the big fish in the tank. heres a pitcher of im when he wuz yunger n tuffer:



bidshicka tuck over top fish of the tank frum a fish name of agnew, witch he wuz a yeller fish that dint stay top fish fer verr long. heres a pitcher of him:



jes to show ye how they could git along befor agnew died, heres a pitcher of em bof checkin out the fotogruffer:



far as we kin tell, ye kin keep a cichlid alive fer about four years. thats the oldest we been able to keep one. so bout a year ago, after agnew had dun been dispatched, twuz no big sprize to see bidshicka down, witch seems lack whenever they die frum ole age, they git to whar they jes quit trine n lie down n dont git back up.

i hollerd to miz bd that it looked lack bidshicka wuz dun fer on a counta how he wuz a'lyin in a corner on the bottom n not movin a fin. yet whenever it cum time to feed, thar wuz bidshicka makin shore he gut the mos.

so twuz a odd thang to see, a fish that played dead. yet he did it mos ever chants he gut. he had im a place whar he wood lie n ye could see how he wuz a'doon it on purpose. whut wuz speshly weird bout it wuz how bidshicka kep his place as top fish in the tank. so twuz fer well over a year.

then thay cum sum kinda power struggle n a peach colord fish name of lucky tuck over. so we figgerd this time, bidshicka wuz a'gone half to die on a counta we aint never seen a top fish lose his place as top fish without dyin in jes a few days. shore a nuff, lucky did his bes to beat bidshicka up, nippin at his tail n even gittin sum bites in along his sides.

but bidshicka used his abilty to play dead to git lucky to leave im alone n we figgered twuz a bit of behavyer we aint never seen befor. durin this time, we had a fish name of esther, witch lucky mated with esther n they had em a set of fry that included three survivers, witch thats bout average.

but we gut a nuther cuple fish includin one we called 'new blue' on a counta how he looked lack bidshicka only smaller, n a nuther fish we named 'cutty shark' on a counta how it wuz bout the color of the orange part of a cutty sark label. cuttys color aint lack no othern we ever had, so we wuz happy bout havin im ...

... till one day we noticed how cutty had a pouch, witch that means cutty wuz a female that had mated (with 'new blue' as it turnt out). we waited n waited to see the lil 'cutlets,' as we called the fry frum cutty. whut a bunch of fish! bes we kin deetermine (and tiz verr hard to count em), cutty dun dropped sumwhars twixt 10 n 17 fish into the tank.

whenever yer numbers go up lack that n the lil ones git to whar they aint a'fraid to cum out, ye kin see the stress of havin so minny new fish in the tank. sumtimes thatll git the top fish to fitin.

thats kindly whut we eggzpecked, but thangs wuz differnt. this time we watched sumthin we dun seen a time of two, witch thats how esther, the female fish that had mated with lucky, deecided twuz time to take lucky out. we seen this three times at lease: a female fish name of trumbley killt the male name of geronimo when geronimo gut to attackin the lil fish. we seen a fish name of jeanie killt a verr mean fish name of pol pot. in them cases, the female killt the male with a sangle vishus attack.

but twuz odd to see esther chasin lucky round since lucky is bout twice her size. but he wuz runnin n we saw her take such a hard bite outta his side that the scales begun to float in the water. within a cuple hours, lucky lay upside down on the bottom of the tank, witch they dont survive that posishun fer verr long.

so i tuck luckys bidy out n flushed it down the toilet. meanwhile, thars bidshicka, givin a lil chase to the new blue (secunt strongest fish lef). once new blue went to hide, bidshicka swum over to his favert place n settled in fer a nap, lookin fer all the worl as ifn he wuz dead.

but he warnt. we aint never seen this kinda change befor, witch tiz nice to see new thangs in a tank thats near 11 years ole! corse, thays all them lil cutlets to watch . . . twill be innerestin once one of the males gits big a nuff to challenge eethur bidshicka or new blue.