Love them or leave them two popular aquarium TV shows have given the hobby some incredible exposure and this was evident at MACNA with both the crew from “Tanked!” and “Fish Tank Kings” on hand meeting with fans and having a bit of fun while they were at it.

Image courtesy of River City Aquatics

The team from Animal Planet’s “Tanked” were front and center at the show with both Wayde King and Brett Raymer of Las Vegas’ Acrylic Tank Manufacturing on hand taking pictures with fans. Thankfully the show floor and Texas both proved to be roomy enough even for these two big personalities. After two successful seasons, the team from Tanked is currently airing season 3.

National Geographic also has their show “Fish Tank Kings” that were on hand representing Living Color Aquariums. Based in Fort Lauderdale, the crew from Fish Tank Kings was happy to announce they were picked up for the second season. We were able to catch up with Living Color president Mat Roy and resident fish geek Francis Yupangco and it sounds like the show will get even better in season 2.

We all know that drama is king in reality TV and that corners do get cut (mostly on the video editing side) to go from concept to build to install and a final reveal to be packed neatly into 23 minutes and if they were so true to form, even as hobbyists, we’d be bored stiff. So we do cut these shows some slack and chalk it up as positive exposure for the hobby overall. We’re looking forward to next year’s MACNA to be able to see how the shows have matured and what will be next (how about a Reef Builders appearance guys!).