Breakin' In or Breakin' Out - A Fish Tail

Harley’s days consisted of swimming around and having these large heads stare at him through a window. Harley had grown strong and fast so whenever one of the big heads tried to scoop him up into a net he gave them hell. He darted from one side of the tank to the other. He swam behind the rocks and plants. Usually, the big head trying to scoop him up gave up and went for some other fish that was too stupid to realize they were being caught. Harley was the king of the tank. He swam wherever he wanted to. Anytime new fish were added they were told by others to swim clear of Harley. Harley was a Dalmatian Molly. It was as if he wore black and white camouflage. Harley looked tough and swam with confidence. His tail had a spike on the bottom which made the other fish steer clear of him.

Another day came where a big head pointed at Harley and he heard a noise through the glass, “I wand thah wun.” Harley knew what was coming. The big head with the net was coming after him. Harley wasn’t going to let that happen. The net came in and Harley darted to the opposite side of the tank. The net followed so Harley went down and darted past a plant. The net went back up. ‘Ha,’ Harley thought, “This is going to be easy.” But the net came again and this time Harley went for the rock sculpture. He swam through to the other side. Harley knew that the net couldn’t follow him. A lot of the other fish never realized that. They just swam around and eventually got caught. Harley was smart he knew the best places to go in the tank. Eventually the big head would give up.

The net went for him again and he darted again to the other side of the tank. The net followed and Harley darted back through the rock sculpture and up the filter. When he got there he figured they had given up so he turned around and all he saw next was green netting swallowing him up. Whoooosh! The net got a hold of Harley. Harley fought with all his might to free himself but his efforts were useless. He found himself getting tipped upside down and he fell into a small container of water. He was flabbergasted and he began to panic. He swam around trying to find a way out, a way back to his tank. He quickly realized there was no way out.

Without much time he was joined by a Balloon Molly named Bubbles. Bubble was golden yellow with a big white belly. Bubbles eyes had a glaze over them and Harley could tell right off the bat that Bubbles had nothing but bubbles inside her tiny head.

“Hi. I’m Bubbles. What’s your name?” Bubbles said with a big smile.

“Shut up, you idiot. Don’t you realize what’s going on?” Harley said sternly.

Bubbles with excitement, “We’ve been picked!” We get to go to a special place.”

“Ohhh, you idiot. You don’t get it. They’re going to try and kill us.”

“Ohh no,” Bubbles said unbelieving. “We’re going to have a special home.”

“That’s what the other Balloon Mollies told you, wasn’t it?” Harley said.

“Yeah,” said a very chipper Bubbles. At this point another fish named Sushi was dropped into the container. Sushi is a Marble Molly with similar designs as Harley but he was much smaller and didn’t have a spiked tail. Before Harley could say a word Bubbles approached Sushi. “Hi. My name is Bubbles. What’s yours?”

Sushi rolled his eyes and swam to Harley. Bubbles swam after Sushi, “Hey. Where are you going?”

“Hey man,” Sushi said to Harley.

Harley replied, “Hey.”

“You got a plan?” Sushi said.

“Not yet,” Harley responded.

“A plan for what?” Bubbles said with her glazed over eyes.

Harley and Sushi rolled their eyes and just then the container they were in was flipped over. The three of them went tumbling down into a plastic bag.

Harley forced himself upright and said, “Damn!”

“This is bad,” Sushi said.

“What are you guys talking about? This is great. We’re the special ones,” Bubbles said.

“You’re special all right.” Harley said.

Bubbles became excited, “Geee, thanks!”

Sushi and Harley rolled their eyes. “Listen,” Sushi began to talk to Bubbles. “Chances are likely that we’ll be breaking in a new fish tank and very few fish every live through the breaking in period of a fish tank. If anything we want to be the fish that come in after the break in period.”

Bubbles eyes got big, “No. That’s not what the others told me. They said it was wonderful and great. We going to have our very own tank and we’ll be taken care of.”

“Listen, Bubbles,” Sushi tried to explain. “Mollies are fish used to break in a fish tank and breakin’ in a fish tank ain’t pretty. Not many fish make it through the whole process.”

Bubbles looked puzzled, well even more so than normal. “What is this breakin’ in process?”

Sushi explained, “Well, when a fish tank is first setup the water is beautiful and clear. After fish get put into the new tank the water gets real cloudy. The tank stays dirty for a few days during that time not many fish live through it. It’s like living in your own poop.”

Bubbles eyes got even bigger than they normal are. “Like living in your own poop!?”

Harley swam over and spoke abruptly to both of them, “Yeah, and that’s why we’re breakin’ out of this joint!’

…TO BE CONTINUED