legendairy fish of buddy don: r.i.p., cutty shark

bout a year or so ago, me n miz bd gut a cuple new fish fer our tank. they breed lack crazy so ye gut to add a lil new blood ever so often to keep yer tank healthy. we gut a few of em, but one of thonly ones that survived wuz a beeyootiful fish that wuz bout the orange color of a cutty sark label. generly when ye see a africun cichlid with such a brite color, tiz a male, witch we figgerd twuz so with cutty.

cutty dint cum out much n we wuznt sure she had survived atall, witch lots of the new fish ye putt into a tank wont make it past the furst week or so. when she finely did cum out, ye could see she had her a mouthfull of lil fishes, witch me n miz bd calls that 'pouched' on a counta how it looks lack the mother fish has a pouch under its mouth. inside that pouch is whar them lil fry grow till thar big a nuff to live outside thar mamas mouth, out in the tank.

we had jes had a skool of fry let out by a nuther mama fish name of esther. she had three of em that survived. after she had let em out, they wuz a'gittin big. thar father wuz a fish name of lucky n lucky had tuck over as big fish of the tank. i tole the story bout how bidshicka survived lucky taken over by playin ded here.

innywho, lucky gut to whar he woodnt hardly leave esther alone till she finely turnt on im n killt im. we have dun witnessed that kinda thang three or four times now, meanin whar a mama fish kills that father of her fry. this time twuz differnt. we aint shore who fatherd all them fry that cum frum cutty, but it seemed lack the hole tank turnt on cutty n hounded her to death, literully to death. tuther mornin we found her batterd bidy a'floatin at the top of the tank.

we shore hated to see her go. miz bd wood talk to her n root fer her n make shore she wuz eatin, but tuther fish kep her chased into a corner whar she couldnt hardly do nuthin. they had dun et off most of her caudel fin (tail) so she couldnt hardly git away whenever they cum to pick on her.

but in a way, cutty gut the last laff: at lease fifteen of her fry has survived, mayhap more on a counta tiz verr hard to count a bunch of movin fish. but tiz a nuff to say thays more 'cuttlets' (as we call em) in that thar tank than inny other kind. so she has dun lef behind a grate legacy.

r.i.p., cutty shark!