Fish Tank Kings on National Geographic Channel

[gimmito]

I finally caught a episode of this much anticipated series. I found it a much better representation of the hobby in general (although there's some corny dialogue and bad acting like Tanked).
It's on Saturday's at 10 pm on the National Geographic channel.

Check out this article: http://reefbuilders.com/2012/04/10/fish-tank-kings-tv-show/

 

[time2cre8]

I just saw the show too.I agree with you. Other then trying to make everything overly dramatic and bad acting it was interesting to watch.

 

[aqua-nut]

I find the shows similar. Neither are great, but it's nice to see SOMETHING about the hobby on TV.

I enjoy seeing the solutions to the engineering issues. If the hosts/stars would just shut up most of the time they would be really enjoyable TV!

The last 'Tanked' they built a 35' long tank. Cool till they put in the gambling crap. Theme tank, yea right!!

Tanked also did a jelly tank in a room that is always at -5 degrees Celsius. I just checked the 'Minus 5 Ice Lounge' website. It only cost $25 to go in the bar! Guess I'll never see that tank in person.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Tanked is a show full of knuckleheads and idiots who are obviously playing it up for the camera, Fish Tank Kings is a show full of annoying people with a power trip who are obviously playing it up for the cameras, from the owner of the shop, the clients from the Marlin's president to the owner of local fish shop.

My biggest issue with Tanked is that while they're great at building stuff they need to stop with the construction aspect of it, when they get into the livestock portion you can see them really tarnish. I'm not sure if they also have a servicing company built into the business, but to hear some of their choices on live stock "Oh we have the achilles tang because it black and round like a $100 poker chip" ugh, not sure if they normally do this with people or if this is again just for the cameras because no one wants to see a show on constructing tanks. Ditto with Fish Tank Kings, however they at least have someone who seems to be a livestock expert (as annoying as he can be) who does seem to look out for the welfare of the animals... at least as long as his boss allows him to do it... really a 3000g shark tank in 3 weeks? That includes building the entire thing AND stocking it? UGH! Here's a question, you need some work done on your house, electrical needs done, as does the plumbing, some drywall cracks, and your roof has a few leaks. Do you hire a guy that can do everything for you the local handyman? Or do you hire a plumber, and an electrician, and a drywall guy, and a roofer... this is why we have general contractors who get the trades for you, and don't do all the work themselves, jack of all trades master of none... which is why they hire the masters.

That said, both these shows are my train wrecks that I can't stop watching, I don't watch American Idol, or the America Got Talent (I am a sucker for the dancing shows though). Its my evil indulgence that makes me feel good inside

 

[aqua-nut]

Well said, Mike.
Especially the train wreck part!!

I don't have a problem with them being an integrated service (ATM). There's a short on OnDemand about a tour of ATM. They also have a retail LFS. I think they know more about fish than they let on in the show. They certainly make some spectacular tanks. In an interview they blamed a lot of the final product on the producers.

I hope no one that is really that goofy can actually be successful, stand up comedy excluded.

I'd like them to tell the price. I've been thinking about a 35' tank and need to know how many children I have to sell to afford it.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yeah, they may have integrated service but the person tossing the fish in the tank are always the two knuckleheads, unlike the show FTK where their fish guy is the one putting the fish in (at least he did with the shark build), why? They just want to be on camera, and no amount of blaming of producers can explain it.

That said my biggest disappointment with the Fish Tank Kings is that NatGeo isn't in high definition!

 

[pixelpixi]

I really hate the themed tanks on Tanked. They're so kitschy and ugly! I can't say I care much for the brightly colored fake coral either, but at least it's somewhat better.

On FTK I do appreciate the fish guy's dedication, but I have to admit that when he's in an uproar about the fake plastic coral being from the wrong geographic area I keep thinking of Comic Book Guy saying "Is this simulated with Earth gravity, or Mars gravity?" (at least I think that's comic book guy. I remember the quote from somewhere)

The deep water fish collection was pretty sweet. BAR needs a sub like that.

 

[gimmito]

I think the producers of both shows try to reel in the "non fish geek." We know what entails building a system, plumbing,electrical, quarantining, fish compatibility, etc. The average viewer doesn't, so the producers resort to human interest, scripted lines, tension, dead lines, etc. I listened to a podcast where Francis the "fish geek" on FTK (an actual biologist) described all the work it took to build the aquariums for the new Marlins ballpark. He sounded intellectual and nowhere near the dork they portray him on the show.

If my wife can get into the FTK show...it's a plus.

 

[aqua-nut]

@Mike
I don't disagree with anything you've said. We'll never know the extent of the producer's influence.

A little side story...
a famous woodworker, David Marks, had a show on DIY. They (producers/DIY) made him wear long sleeved shirts because he has lots of ink. That, in the woodworking world, is at least as stupid as things done on Tanked.

@Pixelpixi
Sorry, I'm not a Simpsons watcher (but Google made me just a little bit smarter right now).

 

[Thales]

In an interview they blamed a lot of the final product on the producers.

Yeah, the ATM guys are pretty good about taking credit for things people like on the show, while blaming things on the the show that people don't like on others. I don't think it matters if they know more or less in real life, the issue seems to be the perception.

I have met people from both shows and was really really turned off by the ATM guys. Bret seemed to think that everyone should agree with them instead of listening to what people had to say they just got louder. He ended up saying that he didn't care about the people of the animals, that is was all about the money and I don't think he realized what he was saying.

Francis from FTK is super nice and earnest and always tries to do the right thing. That said, I was sad that the show portrayed making a tank and stocking it in three weeks - thats just a bad idea all around. I suspect that almost all of the drama is manufactured. For instance Allan Marshall has a more direct link to the sub than Living Color does.

I can't blame any of them for trying to make a go at a TV show, but for both I have the same reservations I wrote about when Tanked first came out - the perception they play up about keeping live animals is not a good one.

 

[sfsuphysics]

On FTK I do appreciate the fish guy's dedication, but I have to admit that when he's in an uproar about the fake plastic coral being from the wrong geographic area I keep thinking of Comic Book Guy saying "Is this simulated with Earth gravity, or Mars gravity?" (at least I think that's comic book guy. I remember the quote from somewhere)

Hehehe that's what I was thinking too... really, he's going to critique the look of the fake plastic, fake colored corals that they're not from that "region"

That said, I was sad that the show portrayed making a tank and stocking it in three weeks - thats just a bad idea all around. I suspect that almost all of the drama is manufactured.

That's one thing that does bug me about the show as well, strangely enough more of the FTK show, because at least there they have a visible animal specialist on staff that's an active part of the show, and here he is saying you shouldn't do that, but they ignore him anyways because its what the customer wants, and if it always turns out for the better then what does that tell someone? Screw what the LFS guy says I can cycle this tank and have fish in it within the week.

Although I'm sure you have some experience with a certain tank needing more time to mature before stocking it with fish, only to have higher ups say "thanks for the advice but... the money talks"