Mat Roy, from ‘Fish Tank Kings,’ talks with Hollywood Soapbox

There’s luxurious, and then there’s Living Color, designers of beautifully intricate aquariums for high-profile clients. The company and its president Mat Roy are the subject of the reality series Fish Tank Kings on Nat Geo Wild. Their day-to-day activities, many of them difficult challenges with complicated tanks, can make for dramatic television.

In season two, which recently premiered, the episodes are even more adventurous than the first season. “It’s a big difference between this year and last year,” Roy said recently during a phone interview. “Last year was a bit of a scramble to get the six episodes out, but we’re on 16 episodes this year. We’ve been filming for the last eight months. I can’t wait for people to see what we’ve got going on.”

Building these aquariums, although a lucrative business, is by no means easy. “It takes a very long time for us to produce these aquariums, and the emphasis is on fish care,” Roy said. “We, of course, want the best parts of what we’re filming to be aired, and sometimes we have to do it over and over again. And that’s the part that can get disruptive. But, on the other side, you know when we have these clients that are … high-end worth, and we’re working with them or producing these projects, well, they have schedules as well. So when they have to move their schedule, it can affect the entire schedule of the show. So it’s a very delicate balance.”

At any given time, Living Color has as many as 40 projects to handle. Each episode of Fish Tank Kings usually features two aquarium constructions. That means most of the company’s client list remains off the show, which is where some of them want to remain. “[T]here certainly is times where we have clients come in and they want nothing to do with the show,” Roy said. “They’re very private individuals. TV is not their thing, and you know, of course, we protect that.”

The aquariums are sometimes mind-boggling intricate. There doesn’t seem to be a location or obstacle that can stop these Fish Tank Kings. But it’s important to note that size doesn’t always matter. “Some of our coolest aquariums are smaller aquariums. We have very unique clients, and so we’ll want to tell that story, and why they’re building the aquarium, what’s prompted them to wanting an aquarium. And then from there, we look at what are the challenges, and we face challenges all day long here at Living Color.”

Some of those challenges include the design, fabrication and installation. Working with glass, water and live fish can be cumbersome. “And a lot of what we’re doing this year is going out and collecting them [the fish],” he said. “So it’s an adventure. Either we’re going out on air boats to find frog habitats to study or we’re diving into the water to look at shipwrecks, taking pictures of that so that we can, you know, replicate the shipwreck, or we’re in the water collecting specific animals for a specific aquarium. We’re doing a lot of adventure-type filming and turning that, all in one big process, into one show.”

Roy said his company is committed to cutting all gimmicks from the aquarium process. He said he’s only interested in making habitats for the intended use of fish. “Every project that we build is a viable project,” he said. “It’s a project that’s paid by the client. It’s a project that will sustain the life of the fish that we’re putting into it. And we also have, and what you’re going to see on season two, is they pull … [from this] quarantine facility that we’ve opened up specifically for the fish. So that we’re quarantining these animals for 30 days before they’re put into an aquarium. … A lot of our clients have good visual sense. They know what it’s going to look like, but when we fire up that aquarium, lights are on, fish are in it. Ten times out of ten, they’re just ecstatic and blown away.”

Roy said there’s two types of viewers of Fish Tank Kings: audience members interested in the process of aquarium designing and devout hobbyists dedicated to the craft. He also said the company realizes that fans of the show and interested buyers may not be able to afford a Living Color creation. The starting price on an aquarium is quite steep.

“So there is that element where someone calls up and says, ‘Hey, I want to buy one of your aquariums.’ And one of the aquariums, our starting base is around $17,000, and the jaw hits the floor. And they just can’t afford it, and they just can’t believe it’s so expensive. But I can tell you everything — all the materials, the care, the proper acrylic thickness, the caseworks — everything we do to make it happen, it’s worth every penny because you’re going to buy an aquarium that you’re going to be able to enjoy for years and years and years to come.”

To help hobbyists who cannot afford an aquarium, Living Color will begin selling retail products including reef kits, individual corals and filters — not a whole habitat, but at least part of the habitat.

Looking back on his years with the company, Roy seems perfectly content with his position as a Fish Tank King. “Living Color started in 1988,” he said. “The ownership of that company wanted to start getting into some fabrication, and I brought that to them starting in 1994. And slowly worked my way up the ranks and got it to the point where, you know, I’m running the company. And it’s been a real challenging process to push the envelope every time we build an aquarium. Our clients have afforded us that opportunity to do so.”

Along the way there has been a lot of “blood, sweat and tears.” He’s learned trade secrets, methods he prefers to keep quiet and away from competitors. But it’s the satisfaction that lingers most.

“I’m living a dream. There’s no doubt about it. I had no idea growing up in Vermont, fishing in a little stream, that one day I would be sitting here speaking to you about how we build these luxury aquariums around the world, and on top of that, we have a reality show called Fish Tank Kings premiering on Nat Geo Wild nonetheless. It’s quite interesting that’s for sure. It’s a very, very humbling experience.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Fish Tank Kings airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on Nat Geo Wild.