Bits And Pieces

A Different Move

     Now you can move your goods by having men arrive with packing boxes, crates, excelsior and many hands to make light work of this disagreeable task.  This is the way you'll probably do it if, say The Company, is financing your moving bill.  Or you can do it yourself by newspaper packing assorted grocery boxes and forming a car caravan to carry your goods if the bill will be on you.

     Over the years, Pop and I have made many moves, both long and short.  Some performed by well organized we-come-in-and-pack companies and some by many trips in the family car and renting a trailer.  It all came down to the matter of who was financing the change of address; but I've never seen a move where tropical fish were involved before.

     We've moved dogs, cats and birds but fish, never.  How do you move several tanks of these temperamental aquatic creatures?  But daughter and son-in-law solved this problem effortlessly in their recent move.

     Clothes you can store on hangers in plastic bags, or drape on any convenient car seat.  Dishes, pots and pans, knickknacks, grocery items can be packed in boxes and transported.  Even a TV set and record player fits easily into the rear of a station wagon.  But how do you move four tanks of tropical fish?  How do you move them from the balmy tropical climate of their aquarium through several hours of the cold outdoors to a new destination?

     Well, things were progressing nicely when Pop and I arrived at daughter's soon-to-be-left apartment.  The living room packed with assorted boxes and people fairly hummed with activity.  That is all the men were active--all the gals sorta sat around and directed.  For instance, we all offered unheeded suggestions to the fellow in charge of transporting the fish.

     Undaunted he dipped out fish with a small net dropping them into plastic sacks already filled with the warm water from the aquariums.  He checked temperatures and then dropped the sacks into insulated boxes.

     The seaweeds were rolled in wet newspapers and finally snapped into plastic bags.  The water was then syphoned out of the deserted aquariums and the sand scooped into assorted mop pails for the trip.  The entire operation took a good two hours of concentrated effort just to get the fish ready for their journey.

     The cars were packed so as to leave one exclusively for the fish--fish tanks--stands and all their paraphernalia.

     "Good grief!" said one friend helping in the move.  "I thought when we took a trip with our two-year-old I had a lot to move; but these fish need more attention and more stuff than my daughter ever did."

     Fish have never been my favorite of animals, and aquariums, although attractive and often fascinating to watch, have been things I could do nicely without.  But daughter married a fish enthusiast and I've learned to smile understandingly when the conversation turns to overcrowding the fish tank, weed arrangements, the state of the kissing gourami or what's with the sword tails.

     I'll admit some of these fish are beautiful and an aquarium filled with these colored swimmers surrounded by underwater plants can be an attractive addition to a dull wall; but I can't get overly interested in a pet I can't pat on the head or tickle under the chin whiskers. 

     "Fish are fascinating to watch," declared daughter.  "Sorta restful too."

     "A real challenge to move," added son-in-law's brother who was in charge of the trip for the fish.

     When we arrived at the new apartment, the women unpacked boxes and applied shelf paper to cupboards and got the kitchen activated.  Some of the men brought in clothes.  Another tinkered with the TV set to get it going and two started the business of re-establishing the tropical fish.

     Suddenly, the women were eased out of the kitchen and the fish men took over.  They washed out the aquariums, the sand was washed--water heaters and pumps started in the aquariums.

     The bathtub was used for washing the weeds and obtaining water and the sink was used for rinsing the sand.  The women washed their hands of the whole business and waited to get things organized until the fish were unveiled.

     The plastic bags were opened and set in fresh water of the aquariums so each could reach the same temperature together.  The greenery arrangements were planted and rocks and stones put in place.  Finally the pumps hummed and the fish swam.

     "We didn't lose a one," said the fish mover triumphantly as he lit the lights over the tanks and surveyed his work of flower, weed and rock.  "Every fish came through alive.  By gosh Bob," he slapped his brother on the back.  "We did it we're all moved in--."

     The women gathered up soggy newspapers, cleaned up sink and bathtub, mopped the wet floors and swept up the sand that sifted from living room to kitchen and tracked into bedrooms and washed out the large plastic sacks.

     The fish were in and accounted for--now we could go on with the business of moving in the humans.

 Written April 15, 1965