Oreo the Hero

Last December for Chanukah, my daughter-in-law purchased a 14 gallon fish tank for my son. This was something he had always wanted and knew that it was a commitment. He filled the tank with water and added the chemicals needed to neutralize the water and later that week he filled the tank with a few fish. Overnight they died. He went back to the fish store and got clearer instructions and tried again. This time was a success. He bought six fish. Four brightly colored ones and 2 black mollies. One of the mollies had a few white speckles so my son named him Oreo. None of the other fish had names. Everything went along swimmingly (no pun intended) until last week. He cleaned the tank as he had done for the past few months but one fish died. He took a sample of the water to the fish store and they tested it. It had a high nitrate level and the salesman told him how to get the levels back to normal. When he came home, he noticed that one of the black mollies was acting funny. He was hanging around on the bottom and had no strength to swim to the top for air or food. That is when Oreo swung into action. As his friend sank to the bottom, he would swim under him and glide to the top with his friend on his back until the struggling fish gulped some air. Each time the fish slid off of Oreos back he caught him and swam to the top again. We watched for almost one half hour as Oreo valiantly tried to save his buddy's life. Sadly, he could not. We all sat there amazed to think that a tiny fish had the instinct to care for one of his own. Last night Oreo was a hero.