Mr. Saltwater Tank Interviews Mat Roy & Francis The Fish Geek From “The Fish Tank Kings”
Aquarium-based reality TV heats up with the Premiere of “The Fish Tank Kings” Season 2. In this episode of Mr. Saltwater Tank TV, I sit down with Mat Roy and Francis “The Fish Geek” to talk to them about season 2 and to find out what happens behind the scenes and what to expect out of season 2 of the show.
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lol ill give you some frags. uhh whats a frag. lol never laughed harder
That’s pretty awesome that they are going to do a couple of live reef builds. So many times it’s just a coral insert so I’m excited to see the live reef tanks!
Excellent interview. Its nice to see them answer questions that we would like to ask. Thanks again for providing such great videos.
Think I’ve seen this show maybe twice…but I must say I really enjoy the show Tanked much better. Love their tank builds and information as well as the shows humor.
Great interview. Our local Club in Ft. Lauderdale just had a tour of their facility this past Tuesday.
I wasn’t able to make it, but heard it was pretty interesting to see how they billed the huge tanks.
What a joke! These guys are not reef enthusiasts, rather, they are businessman and actors trying to make a buck. I don’t even consider them dabblers.
wow they don’t know what frags are and they don’t have home aquariums.
Plus the guy does not even have glasses in real life, wtf!?
Thought I liked that show, going to have to stop watching it
These are the frontment for the show. They are characters created (hence the glasses bit) to appease a general audience. The goal is to draw viewers and sell tv ads. That’s why its not surprising that they have no tanks at home. The main guy is a businessman not a hobbyist. Same with the guys on the show Tanked. You cant expect to go into detail about CA, ALK, MG on a family show and still have people watching after about 30 seconds.
Would you be surprised to find out Morgan Freeman is not a astrophysicist who understands How the Universe Works and studies quantum mechanics in his free time because he is on a show about it?
I’m sure there are plenty of reef junkies that work with these guys off-camera who do have tanks at home and the knowledge needed to maintain a healthy live reef.
I guess I dont get the National Geographic Wild Channel. Tried to search for it and nothing came up with that show’s name. I’m kinda new to the hobby and after a few months ran across Tanked and liked that show (although I know die hard reefers dont like it) I liked seeing a show all about something I was becoming so passionate about.
I wish they would air on a better channel, my provider want an extra $25 a month just to get that channel their on. Great interview though Mark. You do a ausome job on all of your viedos.
I totally loved this. Thanks Mark! Can you try and get an interview with the people from Tanked? They are my favorite.
Terrible show! In one episode the owner told an ex-basketball player in Miami that he could not have clownfish because clownfish would not survive without an anemone. The only person that has any real knowledge about saltwater and reef tanks is Francis. Every other person is just a warehouse worker with no real saltwater know-how. I’d like to see their long term tank and livestock success rate. I guarantee it is terrible.
My vote is for the ATM crew on Tanked. I’ve only seen Kings once or twice and it didn’t appeal to me, it just seemed over produced. I like a show that is more about the process than the end result. There used to be a guy doing great builds from start to finish, oh wait that was MrSaltwatertank, lol. Love the interviews, especially the Julian Sprung interview. Maybe you could get Sanjay some time. I think he’s actually speaking at a reef club here in Toronto this weekend or next.
Interesting reactions from the crew. First +1- Mark, great interview. I strongly prefer “Kings” over “Tanked”. I enjoyed the hunt for deep water fish by submarine last season and coral farm visit in the true reef tank episode. Glad to hear they will tone down the interpersonal “drama” of last year.
I marvel how the hobby and industry has grown 0ver the last 40 years
While I appreciate Mark’s wide range of interest in our hobby — I find Tanked to be a complete waste of time. The show ‘creates’ drama, tension, and conflict for the sake of the show. I didn’t learn a thing from the few shows I saw. At least with Mark’s videos, I have the opportunity to learn something new — thank you, Mark. In their second season they plan to turn a VW bus into an aquarium. Get real.
Thanks for the interview Mark- excellent and professional as usual.
It is these kind of shows that bring more people into the hobby. Its true that the commercial side of things often is a compromise between ‘pure hobby’ and ‘how to make a buck off the impulse buyer’. But this is how the hobby has developed since the 1970s and we are stuck with that reality. marine hobby brings in nature lovers, fish geeks — but by percentages, mostly impulse consumption.
In the end, for every 100 people entering the marine hobby, only 5-10 will be around 3-5 years in. Just the way things are. And certainly A LOT of fish will die along the way! Sometimes I think that the marine hobby kills more fish than Sunkist tuna co! 🙂
I’d like to see these TV guys do a series/show on tanks set up with ONLY captive bred fish and prop corals– now THAT would be responsible. How cool would it be if LFS owners guided beginners to ONLY tank bred species ! JasPR
this was a very good one you are good Mr saltwater mannnnnnnn AAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW 🙂
Looks like Francis and I are like minded. I have the same tank he has in his office and neither of us are fans of the “designer” clown. Who the hell wants to pay ninty bucks for a white clown fish?
Hi Mark,just wanted to say that your going to love your Bi-Color Blenny
there one of my favorite fish too.They have so much personality,you’ll be watching him all the time.
Hi Mark,just wanted to say that your going to love your Bi-Color Blenny.
They are one of my favorite fish too.They have so much personality that you will find yourself watching him(or her)all the time.
Thanks for all the great vids and tips.Keep up the great work!!
Excellent interview.
I live in the Dominican Republic and I watch this show every time I can.
Best Regards.
Glauco
Thanks Glauco!
Nothing against Tanked or The Fisk Tank Kings but Mr. Saltwater Tank TV is better.
thanks Jason. Every show will have an intended audience and for nearly all of my audience insert or theme tanks just aren’t interesting. Different strokes for different folks.
I just watched this interview and at the end Mr. Saltwater asked them if their tanks were just for the show and then taken apart afterwards (apparently some folks accused them of that). They said, oh no, all of our tanks are still up and running! i loved the first show of this season with the VW bus and was excited to see it was at the Sunrise Ford dealership in Ft. Pierce where i live. Couldn’t wait to go by the dealership after work today to see the bus. I was sooo disappointed! The VW bus aquarium was completely empty! The VW is sitting in the showroom but the aquarium is empty, not a drop of water, or even the reef. So, I asked the receptionist why is it empty and she says that they are going to move it to the new VW dealership down the road. Sounds logical. My next question is, when will they be moving it there? She says in about two years after it is built! What??? Great idea and cool show. Just disappointed that it wasn’t still running. The life of TV reality shows. 🙁
I watch both FTK and Tanked. I like FTK better because, while the tension between them gets to me (glad to hear that’s better this season!), FTK’s stocking choices don’t make me cringe. They also do a better job of providing a comfortable environment for the animals.
Using a freshwater example here…ATM put two rainbow sharks, at least one bala shark and (I think) a redtail shark in a tank that was probably five gallons, tops. First, that tank is an incredibly unsuitable size for anything but the guppies they threw in; redtails and rainbows need at least 50g, 75 to be on their best behavior, and balas needa 6ft long tank. You cannot put multiple rainbow sharks together unless the aquarium’s gigantic, and you cannot mix them with redtails. On top of that, balas need schools. What a disaster. I think they put a featherfin catfish in, as well, which is “rated” for 30g (I have one and can say from experience tbey should be in 45, minimum. ) And they gave that to a CHILD. I know for sure Living Color would not do something like that. At least give the kid proper stocking so he doesn’t wake up one morning to his precious fish having murdered each other.
Francis doesn’t really wear glasses. They both don’t have a home aquarium. They don’t know what frags are. Wow, LOL. Anyways, people need to stop crying that they don’t learn anything from these shows. Come on guys, it’s reality T.V. When is the last time anyone learned anything from reality tv? It just happens to be about a hobby a lot of us love and many people are curious about. There hasn’t been anything in the main stream media that has sparked interest in saltwater tanks since Finding Nemo. So cut these shows (FTK and Tanked) a break. They are just for entertainment, not education. If you want detailed info about this hobby support people like Mr. saltwater tank and other online fish tank people that spend their time explaining the technical side of this hobby. I will admit though that the FTK latest episode did make me a bit angry. Catching a ray from the wild?! That’s a no no in my book. They did however hire a hot girl for the show. So I will forgive them just this once. hahaha