The Life of a Professional Fish Tank Builder & Exotic Fish Handler
Eddie | The Dog Walk
Transcript
00:00 All right, man, welcome to the dog walk presented by Barstool Sports,
00:02 joined by an in-studio guest.
00:05 Can I call you fish tank guy, Brian? Sure.
00:08 So Brian works for Tank It Easy is the name of your company.
00:13 That's true. So you are the owner.
00:15 Yeah. And operator. Owner operator.
00:17 I have a partner as well.
00:18 OK. Yeah. Of a fish tank company.
00:21 Yeah. In Chicago.
00:23 Very old school dog walk people for people who have been here since the jump.
00:28 How'd you get into fish tanks, man?
00:30 Well, it's wild. I mean, growing up, I always you know, my dad had fish tanks.
00:33 So I go visit my dad on the weekends and we do water changes together.
00:37 And for those who don't know, that's not all of the water.
00:39 Just a little bit of water you take out to clean it.
00:41 He always had a fish tank and it was like the cool thing to do with your dad.
00:45 You know, check out the fish tank and see the progress.
00:48 And so, yeah, we would do that.
00:50 And then slowly but surely, I was always the guy that had a fish tank
00:53 in his house or his apartment.
00:55 I think when I lived in Old Town, I had like five different fish tanks
00:58 when I was working for a marketing company.
00:59 Oh, shit. People would come over and be like, you should work for the shed, man.
01:03 You should do something different.
01:05 I was always very passionate about it.
01:07 And it's it's something that like brings people together.
01:10 I'm usually like very excited to see the fish guy.
01:13 But I always thought there's like there's no chance
01:15 that there's like a way to monetize this. Right.
01:17 Now that there's like no way that you could just,
01:21 you know, do fish tanks without like volunteering.
01:23 And then I met my partner about 10 years ago,
01:26 and he was a guy in a bucket and like a fish tank business,
01:30 more conservative than we have now.
01:32 And yeah, I just kind of learned a little bit more of not just the art
01:35 of keeping fish tanks, but how do you keep a life support system
01:38 up and running for in between two and three weeks
01:42 in between visits that you're not seeing every single day?
01:45 And so kind of learn more of the art of that.
01:48 And then it's you know, we're kind of like underwater landscapers in a sense.
01:52 You know, so we're going out to everyone's homes and offices
01:56 and everyone's usually pretty stoked to see you
01:58 because you're bringing some kind of livestock for them. Yeah.
02:00 But yeah, it was a sort of passion of mine.
02:03 And then when I met my partner, I was like, hey, you know, I've got
02:05 I came up with the name and kind of had some changes
02:08 and some marketing ploys, if you will.
02:10 You know, finding Nemo didn't hurt us.
02:12 Yeah, it's true. It's a good name.
02:15 Thanks. Take it easy. Thanks. I caught that.
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03:56 Let's get into the interview.
03:58 You're right, though, because there's something about walking into a house
04:01 and seeing a fish tank in a gradually it naturally catches your eye. Right.
04:05 Like if I saw a snake tank or a bird cage, I'd probably be like, I don't care.
04:11 I don't want nothing to do with that.
04:13 If I saw art, I'd be like, I don't understand it.
04:15 Right. You know, I don't really care about that either.
04:17 But something about the the colors and the even the
04:21 the nat sounds of a fish tank always kind of makes you gravitate towards it.
04:26 Well, the other thing, too, is like, you know, I think water intrinsically
04:29 we're all kind of attracted to it in some respect, whether it's like a pool,
04:32 you know, that kind of thing, or people spend a lot of money going vacation.
04:35 But it kind of brings that element to your home or office kind of thing.
04:39 Yeah, this is what they this is the feedback I get.
04:41 But also like the shimmer you get, you know, when you're off of the water.
04:45 That's kind of a big deal that people are like, oh, I love that.
04:48 And couples are usually they come to me with this for their home.
04:51 They have different ideas of what they want. Yeah.
04:55 But they usually have different things that they appreciate later.
04:57 Once it's actually there. Yeah. No, I could see that for sure.
05:01 And what I found so and we're going to get into it.
05:05 A lot goes into these tanks a lot, but a lot less than you think. Really? OK.
05:10 Yeah, I went listen.
05:11 So I went to Petco probably three years ago.
05:13 OK, maybe maybe maybe four. Sure.
05:15 And I just wanted to buy it.
05:17 My nephew had just turned four.
05:19 I just wanted to buy him a basic fish.
05:20 Like I'm thinking the standard goldfish rumble,
05:24 pour a little bit of water in and put it on the on the counter
05:27 and like be done with it, you know, in and out.
05:29 And this guy, I was like a sucker at the mechanic.
05:33 He's like, oh, no, if you're going to get this, you need this.
05:35 And like, you need to get this tank.
05:37 You need to get this coral and you need to buy water.
05:41 And when he told me I needed to buy water, I was like,
05:43 what the fuck do you mean I need to buy water?
05:45 You know, that's where he really was like, I think he's pulling one over on me
05:49 or there's just a lot that goes into this.
05:51 Is that that's true? He wasn't trying to pull one over.
05:54 He wasn't. But I think he's trying to set you up for success.
05:57 And I think the hard thing is with smaller fish tanks.
05:59 I explain this to my customers a lot that, you know, they come in,
06:03 they want to dip their toe in the water.
06:04 No pun intended, but just they want to kind of get into the into the hobby
06:07 a little bit.
06:08 And what they end up doing is getting themselves a really small tank.
06:11 And when they get a small tank, inevitably, it sounds like
06:14 I'm trying to sell them something.
06:15 But I'm trying to say, hey, why don't we skip the small one?
06:18 Go to like a medium size.
06:20 And the reason is, is it's a lot like models.
06:22 I don't know if you ever did models growing up.
06:24 But what do you mean by like the like the car model or like the airplane?
06:28 Where are two types?
06:29 There's the one that like clips together and has stickers.
06:32 Yeah. And like, oh, you made something. Yeah.
06:35 And there's the other one where you got to like do sanding and gluing
06:38 and all these separate parts and special colored paints
06:41 and a more difficult scale of a different grade of difficulty.
06:45 In the fish tank world, the smaller the tank, the smaller the body,
06:50 the smaller the volume of water, the more difficult it actually is to maintain.
06:55 A couple of reasons for that is because evaporation in the winter here
06:59 gets really dry.
07:00 And so water evaporates out of the tank.
07:02 And so taking a cup out of this or a cup out of a bigger tank,
07:06 it doesn't impact it quite as quickly.
07:09 So I think for new for anyone that's new to the hobby,
07:13 that's one of the things that they do.
07:14 They just kind of want to see if they're going to like it
07:16 before they go all the way in.
07:18 And they end up doing is getting a small tank that either a results in disaster
07:21 because there's just little tips.
07:23 One thing, if it's a tank with a light, you know, a big deal with that is algae
07:28 growth. So, you know, if you're playing with your nephew and you click on the light,
07:32 there you go.
07:34 But that's the sun. And if the sun never sets, it grows a lot of algae.
07:38 So the first thing I recommend to people is get a timer,
07:41 get some type of timer to knock that out of play.
07:44 So it's only on for six or seven hours.
07:46 The light is only on for that long. That's one thing.
07:49 But the second thing is, is that, you know,
07:52 they're getting at what they have behind the special water.
07:55 Would that admit if you ever if you've ever seen like a CLR commercial
07:58 where they have all those dissolved solids on the faucets and things like that?
08:01 Yeah. Or if you use a humidifier, there's like this dust
08:05 that gets created and goes on on everything in the wintertime.
08:08 That is these dissolved solids that are in our tap water.
08:13 So when you use tap water, Petco is going to sell you like a dechlorinator
08:17 to take away the chlorine.
08:19 But there's these calcium deposits or these little it's maybe I'm getting
08:22 too sciencey here, but there's a bunch of gunk that's in the water
08:26 that the fish don't appreciate long term.
08:27 So that's part of it.
08:30 So by getting a slightly bigger tank, you can avoid some of these problems.
08:34 But as far as the water, that's what they're trying to set you up with,
08:36 which what's called reverse osmosis.
08:38 It's just like distilled water. Yeah. Basically.
08:41 And that takes out the tap water out of play.
08:44 For a small tank, you get a gallon jug or a couple of gallons
08:47 and do your water changes that way.
08:49 Now, with a goldfish, goldfish are kind of a hardier, hardier fish.
08:53 Saltwater is a little more robust.
08:58 The fish are a little bit hardier, but that's when you get into salt,
09:01 it gets a little more intimidating, per se,
09:04 because of the cost and the barrier of entry with that. Yeah.
09:07 But the technology nowadays, if you really invest in,
09:10 you know, getting the right setup from the first the first part,
09:14 you have a great experience.
09:16 Whereas right now, if you go to Petco and you kind of get
09:18 that's kind of like the think of like a Bic lighter.
09:22 Yeah, it's disposable.
09:24 It's not really meant to last very long.
09:26 There are filters, there are pumps, they're kind of lower end.
09:28 So it's just kind of get you into the hobby, although it might be expensive.
09:32 There's other products that we use for our service clients
09:35 that are more high end that can be clean, taken apart,
09:40 put back together that last longer, but also don't fail as frequently.
09:44 So it's about redundancy and a couple of different ways of doing that.
09:48 But if you're serious about having like a tank that looks good,
09:51 there is no filter or magic. It's like a kid.
09:53 You can't just you got to do a diaper change, got to do a water change.
09:56 Yeah. So by doing those water changes, that's what we do.
09:59 So we do water change and clean the outside and the inside.
10:02 But that makes a huge impact.
10:05 Yeah, huge that you can if you're willing to do those things.
10:07 There's no like you can't spend.
10:09 There's no way to avoid getting your hands wet a little bit, maybe twice a month.
10:14 But I say that it's it's a lot easier than a dog.
10:17 I mean, go take out, take a dog or a cat.
10:19 There's a lot more maintenance involved.
10:21 But with fish tanks, you can you can optimize that, make it easier.
10:24 But like, yeah, the small tank that you're you're kind of set up for your nephew.
10:28 That is a great experience.
10:30 But then you probably have to like nudge your, you know, the parents.
10:33 Yeah. Yeah.
10:34 To get involved a little bit. Yeah.
10:36 And then also feeding is a big part of it.
10:39 Yeah. If you overfeed, it creates a lot of mess.
10:42 But some of the cleanest tanks I have in Chicago are ones that are in offices
10:46 where no one's feeding on the weekends.
10:48 And ironically, they actually do much better.
10:50 Really? Just because fish are intermittent fasting or what?
10:54 Well, well, they don't always you know, they don't always, you know,
10:57 have a good hunting day.
11:00 Yeah. I don't always get what they exactly need, but they're swimming around.
11:03 And they do. They do fantastic.
11:05 Even at the bar we have.
11:06 Sorry. Even at, you know, different customers places that we do.
11:09 We have tanks that aren't fed every single day, at least not fully.
11:14 OK, so that's that goes into a cleaner tank.
11:16 That's very interesting.
11:18 Yeah. What goes in has got to come out.
11:19 Yeah, that's that's that's that's a fact.
11:22 It is. That's a fact, Brian.
11:23 Now, so the carnival goldfish.
11:27 Yes. Thoughts on that?
11:29 Well, I feel like I'm a fish guy priest or something, because
11:32 not a day goes by that someone doesn't stop me on the street
11:36 and talk to me about the fish that they want at the carnival.
11:39 Really? Oh, yeah.
11:41 The fish that they talked about, the goldfish or the betta.
11:43 And they're like, hey, I got this fish.
11:46 It never died.
11:47 I kept it there, you know, or it did.
11:49 And I had to switch it out for my kid.
11:51 Everyone tells me their fish guy story.
11:53 Yeah. Of sorts. But yeah, the carnival fish, it's like
11:55 usually those are like the lowest grade of goldfish.
11:58 Those are like the the feeder fish that are in like Petco.
12:02 They would sell to feed other animals.
12:04 Oh, no shit. Yeah.
12:06 So there's not like I don't know about every carnival, but yeah.
12:09 Most of those fish are.
12:11 But they're hardy. They're basically carp.
12:12 Yeah. Type of goldfish.
12:14 What's the average life expectancy on those?
12:16 Do you know?
12:17 Well, generally speaking, depending on what kind it is, they grow big.
12:21 Like they'll they'll get too big for that for the small tank.
12:25 Yeah, that's for sure.
12:26 If they're fed well in, you know, God willing, they're being maintained properly.
12:30 I've heard of people having those types of goldfish.
12:33 They're not looking great on their way out.
12:35 You know, they're they're they're living, living for, you know,
12:38 maybe three or four years, which is crazy.
12:40 Yeah. To think about you take this thing home for, you know,
12:44 pulling up a rubber duck and whatever, you know, there you go.
12:47 You got that thing for three or four years. Pretty wild.
12:50 So now like no schooling, nothing.
12:52 You basically just have learned all this stuff through, you know, hands on work.
12:56 Yeah. Hands on work.
12:57 That's pretty crazy, man. It is wild.
12:59 Well, I mean, it's a big industry. I mean, it really is.
13:01 How so? Like how can you really?
13:03 Well, I would say there's a I mean, across the we're talking billions.
13:08 I mean, it's it's a big deal.
13:11 Even more than that, we have trade shows that come in
13:14 like at the Schaumburg Convention Center.
13:15 Yeah. One of the guys that used to work with us, he puts on a trade show.
13:19 He was like a YouTube guy, Coral Fish 12G.
13:22 And he's got like a million followers on YouTube.
13:26 And they created this aquarium festival called Aqua Shala.
13:31 And it's it's wild.
13:34 It is freshwater and saltwater.
13:35 And it's it's been around for, I think, like 2019, 18 or 19.
13:41 And they go to Dallas. They go to Orlando.
13:43 They go. Chicago is another one.
13:46 And they'll have like 7000 people show up on a weekend just to see these tanks.
13:51 Really? And that's kind of where take it easy.
13:53 We kind of partnered with them and we will set up like I mean, I think our record
13:56 was like 18 saltwater tanks that we would set up for just for the weekend.
14:00 And yeah, it's a big deal.
14:02 I mean, it's it's you know, you see the Petco's and you see like
14:05 I think there's even like I don't know if Walmart still does it,
14:08 but sometimes they have like a little fish section.
14:11 A lot of people, the gateway drug for them is to get started
14:13 with like with freshwater and they enjoy it.
14:17 Usually they get their they wait for their sales to come up.
14:20 A lot of do it yourselfers.
14:21 Joe, if I got a fish tank, what's the biggest difference between
14:24 me wanting to go freshwater versus saltwater?
14:27 Well, I'd say it's like it's like comparing like black and white TV to like HD.
14:32 Really? Yeah. It's that big of a difference.
14:35 I saltwater is better, I assume.
14:37 Well, saltwater, there's two parts.
14:39 So there's what we call fish only.
14:41 And then there's reef tanks.
14:43 And so a reef tank is emulating like the Great Barrier Reef.
14:46 And so you got live coral.
14:49 And like I'm talking, I'm talking about coral.
14:51 You might just I don't know what you think about when you think coral,
14:53 but coral is it's an animal, first of all.
14:56 And it comes in like every color of the rainbow.
14:59 I'm talking like if you took a Crayola crayon box, like the really like
15:02 fuchsia colored ones, and you broke them and threw them all over the tank.
15:06 Like that's what these animals are.
15:08 Yeah. Like exquisite
15:11 displays of like rainbow coloring, basically.
15:14 So that's that's a that's a reef tank.
15:16 Now there's there's fish only saltwater, which is like your puffer fish
15:21 and your eels and groupers and maybe even a lionfish type of thing
15:25 where they are on the reef.
15:27 But they're kind of like goats in a sense where they like to nibble
15:30 and taste the coral just because of boredom or maybe they think it's food
15:34 or whatnot, where if you were, you know, in a field of coral
15:39 underwater in Australia, yeah, it wouldn't matter
15:42 if they took a little snack here or snack there because it's just so robust.
15:46 There's coral everywhere.
15:47 But this type of situation for your home tank or your office tank,
15:50 that is, if it has coral, you don't want those guys there
15:53 because it'd be like tying up a goat in your in your garden.
15:56 Yeah, just it would constantly eat everything.
15:58 Yeah. So we keep those separate.
15:59 But whether you like predator fish, you like that kind of action
16:03 of those bigger fish, then that's a good spot for you is fish only.
16:07 But majority of my clients, when they want like the the Bentley,
16:11 like the the best fish tank, it's a reef tank.
16:14 So we like like the cast of Finding Nemo.
16:16 There's like an enemies and clownfish.
16:18 Yeah. Yeah. All types of very vibrant, very vibrant.
16:22 And that's like the those are the big time fish tank guys.
16:26 Well, I think it can.
16:28 So what's become the rage now?
16:29 I know I just kind of dissed the small tanks.
16:31 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:32 Because they're more difficult.
16:33 But they have about a nano tank is somewhere between 15 and 30 gallons
16:37 would sit here on the desk.
16:39 OK, so we're talking like like a little cube.
16:42 Yeah. Cube. OK. Yeah, you can you can set that up.
16:45 But again, every person that I've met,
16:48 they start out with that tank and then they end up getting a bigger tank
16:52 because no one likes to hear no.
16:54 Yeah. So it doesn't take very long before you have to because you're already full
16:58 and you don't have as much motion in there for you.
17:02 Now, not as much space.
17:03 You get a couple of clownfish in a tank like this,
17:06 where if you went to like a 55 gallon or a 75.
17:10 Yeah. Or I'll be like a hundred gallon.
17:12 Now you're cooking with gas.
17:14 Now you can get the proper lighting above and the filtration beneath.
17:19 I don't have to tell you no very often.
17:21 I mean, you can have an enemies.
17:23 You can have cocoa worms, which are like these fancy feather dusters.
17:28 A lot of like SPS and LPS, large, stony, large polyps.
17:32 There's a lot of different ways to
17:36 to keep this now because of the lighting back in the day.
17:39 Like my dad's tank was like really,
17:42 really archaic.
17:45 The sun would just be on.
17:46 The light would be on.
17:47 The metal halite would just be really on and hot.
17:49 And so you have to have like a chiller and all these other components.
17:52 Whereas now these LEDs are you can adjust them and change them.
17:57 And it ramps up like the sun.
17:59 Like if you're on the reef, you know, 12 o'clock,
18:02 it's the brightest it's going to be and then the sun sets.
18:05 These lights emulate all of that.
18:09 So instead of just getting a piece of coral or fish or something
18:12 that you just want to want it to survive for a party,
18:14 which is how it was done like in the 80s,
18:17 now technology has come full circle where you literally are purchasing
18:21 instead of like a colony of coral big pieces, you're getting little chunks
18:26 and you can place it and then watch it grow. Wow.
18:28 So one of the technology has benefited the fish tank industry tremendously.
18:34 Tremendous. I mean, I have an app on my phone that I can.
18:36 That's all it is. Well, I can monitor now they've tank monitoring.
18:39 So it's like a collection.
18:40 Like some people might collect, you know, different types of wine or booze
18:45 or watches or whatever they whatever they're into.
18:47 You want to know that stuff's OK.
18:49 Yeah, it's like the temperature control.
18:51 But this is more.
18:52 It's more involved, but it simplifies it.
18:55 So if all of a sudden, let's say your tank is overheating,
18:58 your apartment's real hot and you're like, man, this heater is making it.
19:00 I can turn off my heaters remotely.
19:03 Yeah, so that's pretty amazing, man.
19:05 Yeah, that's pretty amazing.
19:06 Like you think about people just weren't able to do that.
19:10 You can't sit home all day and tinker and tanker every hour, you know.
19:14 Right. Yeah.
19:15 Now with all these people talk about the you know, I think there's an alarm
19:18 clock like that, right?
19:19 Like it just gets really bright and it wakes you up. Right.
19:22 Like this is something that has really benefited.
19:24 It's a certain industry or certain, you know, wildlife.
19:28 That's crazy.
19:28 It is because at the end of the day, it's a life support system.
19:31 You try to emulate the reef in your home or office.
19:34 But what's nice for my clients is we monitor that.
19:37 So we'll get the alerts or understand.
19:40 There's even a called by Neptune systems called the Apex controller,
19:43 and it tests the water.
19:46 And so I get my results for what the fish tank, you know, with the aquarium,
19:49 how it's doing.
19:50 So we have this this phrase that we use that nothing good
19:53 in an aquarium happens fast.
19:55 Anything that happens fast is usually really bad.
19:58 So we can get ahead of those things.
19:59 We can see how the phosphates and nitrates and the different calcium
20:03 and alkalinity levels, how they're doing and kind of adjust.
20:06 And so it's kind of interesting because the hobby itself has really lent itself
20:11 to more of the museum application, like the Shedd Aquarium, for example.
20:16 They're looking at some of this technology to try to innovate and change.
20:22 Maybe they're tried and true ways of doing things.
20:24 But now they get to see, oh, wow, technology really is lending a big hand
20:28 to this, to monitoring their tanks and understanding,
20:31 oh, we don't have to wait to see this transformation of an ugly phase.
20:36 We can get out in front of it.
20:37 Yeah, that's where we come in.
20:39 Yeah. So do you work with the Shedd a lot or?
20:41 We do. We do.
20:43 We have a cool relationship with them.
20:45 Sometimes there's different livestock and things like that that we can we can lend.
20:51 Good. It's cool.
20:52 We have a really good working relationship with them and
20:54 and also different, let's say,
20:58 Shedd like companies.
21:01 Yeah, that's good to hear because, you know, you always assume like,
21:04 oh, no, a city corporation, like you hope everything is like not
21:08 you hope everything's run the best.
21:11 Also, I'll just put it that way. Sure. It's good.
21:13 I think everyone's just we're all on the same team at the at the same respect.
21:17 Like my teammates, they are just very passionate individuals
21:21 that really love livestock.
21:24 So they're making choices based upon what's best for the for the animals.
21:28 And so when you have that common thread, you don't really
21:31 at least we don't take the approach of like being very guarded about our information.
21:35 So just try to be as friendly as possible.
21:38 We figure if all the fish tanks of people that are other even our competitors,
21:42 if they're doing well and we can help them, that's going to help our industry.
21:46 As well, it's worked well for now.
21:48 Do you ever deal with people who are like, hey, if you have to use all these
21:51 unnatural ways to make these fish, you know, flourish,
21:56 maybe they shouldn't be in these tanks.
21:59 Is that like, you know, they ever blow back on you guys?
22:01 You know, there is.
22:02 But I think it's quickly met by this understanding that,
22:05 you know, clownfish, when they breed, they'll create a clutch of like 5000 eggs.
22:11 A lot of them become food for other fish.
22:14 And the life cycle in the wild is much shorter.
22:17 So we give them the best protein.
22:20 We provide food for all of our frozen good, good
22:24 Mises shrimp and krill, depending on which type of animal it is.
22:28 But they have
22:30 incredible lives because they're being well fed all the time
22:35 and they get the best water parameters now around the world.
22:37 We're having problems on the Great Barrier Reef.
22:40 Yeah, that's supposed to be in trouble.
22:42 It is. And that's it kind of plays into this because the temperature
22:46 is one big catalyst for that.
22:48 And cyclones come through.
22:50 You take those two things out.
22:51 We get to control the temperature and the cyclones where some of these
22:56 I do believe I'd say the next 10 years or so.
22:59 There is a there's a really good chance that when they're looking to repopulate
23:02 or to grow corals in other areas, I mean, they're doing it now
23:05 with the Coral Restoration Foundation.
23:07 They're actually taking corals that are more resilient
23:09 to different temperature changes or repopulating areas that were devastated
23:13 where it's just everything is it's just death.
23:16 So that's good.
23:17 Yeah, it's fantastic.
23:19 So to that point, by learning how to monitor and keep those things together,
23:23 you're actually kind of saving almost like a seed bank.
23:25 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:26 So we have a coral farm actually where we do this, where we actually grow coral
23:30 and it gets you know, take a big piece and you can actually fragment
23:34 it into the little pieces.
23:35 Now, why that's good is that for a hobbyist
23:37 who's getting into the aquarium business or aquarium hobby,
23:40 you don't have to spend your whole paycheck.
23:43 You can buy instead of buying a piece that's thousands of dollars.
23:46 You can buy a little piece.
23:47 It's like forty dollars.
23:48 And then you put it in your tank and let it grow.
23:51 Yeah, that's great.
23:52 So it's it's a little less intimidating.
23:54 The barrier to entry is a lot more reasonable.
23:56 But then you get to learn about, you know, the ocean, livestock, appreciation,
24:00 a lot of good responsibility elements still for children.
24:03 So it's a it's a win win as far as I'm concerned.
24:07 I think there will be people that would argue that like, why don't take the fish
24:10 out of the ocean or don't take coral?
24:12 I had an opportunity.
24:13 I went to Australia a couple of years ago.
24:15 I met with the Ministry of Queensland there.
24:17 It was a really cool trip.
24:20 We actually got to go on a dive diving expedition with
24:24 on the same boat that they shoot, like IMAX videos.
24:27 Oh, wow. Yeah.
24:28 So like there's, you know, the back end of the boat
24:30 had, you know, all of our diving gear and whatnot.
24:34 And they took us to all the honey holes, all the different spots
24:37 where they have some of the most amazing coral that get shipped back here.
24:40 It was a unique opportunity because I got to hand select,
24:43 you know, go down with my diving gear and pick out corals and have them ship back.
24:47 And they do it all through licensing and through CITES permits.
24:51 But the minister of Queensland was explaining to us that
24:54 when he took on the position, he wanted to come in and just
24:57 nobody's taking anything else out of the reef.
25:00 Stop it all.
25:02 And what he found was it's actually it'd be like if there was a tornado
25:05 coming through a cornfield, you knew that that was coming
25:08 and you could grab a couple of ears of corn before that tornado came by.
25:12 That that would actually be where's the loss, you know, in that respect.
25:17 Yeah. But there's such frequency of cyclones now and such frequency of problems
25:21 there that a they do it.
25:24 They're very serious about that in Australia.
25:26 Anything that has to do with nature and keeping things correct.
25:29 But they allow so many permits and it's very well regulated.
25:32 And the appreciation for the for the hobby and everything else.
25:37 I think it's a great thing when it's well regulated.
25:40 Now, there's certain areas where that's different, like in Vietnam, for example.
25:44 There's a lot of harvesting that's taken place
25:47 where there is sometimes a scarcity of fish, where that's not from the aquarium
25:51 hobby, that's for consumption and overfished for,
25:54 you know, the nets and things that they use. Mm hmm.
25:58 That's that's super interesting.
25:59 I didn't I did not realize you could just go and pick out your own coral.
26:03 It's very rare. It's rare.
26:04 OK, very rare.
26:05 Like you formed a relationship to make this happen. Correct.
26:08 And like, is it like super expensive to do this?
26:10 Well, the most expensive thing was getting there.
26:12 Oh, really? And, you know, just, you know, traveling and what? Yeah.
26:16 It's a long flight.
26:18 But it was with a another YouTube celebrity, Mr. Saltwater Tank.
26:22 OK, it was funny.
26:23 That's who I learned from a lot of stuff through YouTube and kind of like
26:26 creating a bond and being kind of a fanboy, if you will,
26:29 where my passion for the hobby just kind of grew and grew.
26:32 And my first set of LED lights back when I was director of sales
26:36 had a sales team and I would just daydream about fish tanks. Yeah.
26:39 And he taught me a bunch, but he does this like VIP tour,
26:44 I guess you could say, for his clients.
26:45 And that's what it was a part of.
26:47 And so he has a relationship with a company called Cans Marine.
26:50 And Lyle Esquire is a second generation owner of that harvesting group.
26:56 And now when I say a harvesting group, I mean, we're in like a 96 foot yacht
27:00 and we're going out and diving every day.
27:02 And Lyle, who I think is like the most interesting man in the world, he
27:06 he like while we're scuba diving down 65 feet,
27:10 he's going down on a breath of air with a harpoon gun. Wow.
27:14 So we're down there and we're getting our coral and that kind of thing.
27:16 And here's Lyle kicking down. Yeah.
27:19 Takes his harpoon gun.
27:20 I think it was a reef trout that he like snagged.
27:22 Brings it back up.
27:24 Sushimi's it up on the deck. It was like, here you go, mate.
27:27 Here you go. There's some fish.
27:28 Are you kidding me?
27:31 Like, yeah, we got all of our gear on.
27:32 We're like, you know, decompressing, doing all that kind of stuff.
27:34 And he's just like it's just second nature to those guys down there.
27:37 But while we're there to go look at to harvest coral,
27:42 there is a boat that shows up.
27:44 It's like a 200 foot, maybe even larger called the sharpshooter.
27:47 And they have storage containers and tanks on their vessel.
27:52 And so these like hunky dudes come out and like we went down,
27:54 paired off with each one of them.
27:56 They take the collection of coral and put it on fish tanks.
27:59 And I'm sorry, in that boat with fish tanks that they then
28:03 two weeks after I got back, they shipped to me. Wow.
28:07 So it was a unique experience.
28:09 Not many people get to do that. No, not at all.
28:11 So that if you don't have the so that but still, that was only one way of getting it.
28:15 How did you get the rest of your coral reef?
28:16 You just kind of order it. And there's.
28:18 So we have relationships like that.
28:20 Very similar where you pick off of, you know, a list.
28:22 And you have the different names.
28:23 You understand what it is you're looking for.
28:25 You know, Australia is a big one. And Indonesia is another.
28:28 Oh, no shit. And so those are the.
28:30 And there's other places that we get from as well. Red Sea.
28:33 Even off the coast of Florida, there's some stuff.
28:36 It just when you look at some of the reef tanks that we put together, it's not.
28:39 You would never dive in the ocean and see everything that's in one of our fish tanks.
28:44 These are a collection from around the world.
28:47 So it's like the best of the best, the most vibrant colors.
28:49 Yeah. The most unique shapes and also hardy.
28:52 So that's very good for the for the for a startup aquarium.
28:57 And then we kind of eke our way into our edge into getting bigger, brighter.
29:01 Some people are really, you know, budget is no thing.
29:04 They're like, I want the most beautiful stuff. Yeah.
29:06 And so we'll get a sample, get a piece and I'll have like a,
29:09 you know, hot list of different customers that they just always say yes.
29:14 So I hit them up with, OK, do you want me to grab this for you?
29:18 Kind of like a bidding type of situation.
29:20 What's the what's the scarcity like on like what's the most popular fish
29:25 that is pretty scarce?
29:26 Like you're like, hey, that's that's a tough one.
29:29 You know, everything's kind of attainable.
29:30 Well, we usually stay away from a lot of those.
29:32 We did we sold a really high end.
29:35 It's an angel fish called a clarion angel.
29:37 And that was like a ten thousand dollar fish.
29:40 Oh, yeah. Yeah.
29:41 So that one was nerve wracking, to say the least.
29:43 It wasn't one that was like, oh, great, let's bring this in.
29:46 But we have a customer that's just, you know, expects the best, wants the best
29:50 and has an amazing basement full of well kept, beautiful fish.
29:56 We built all the cabinetry for him
29:59 and this is just his this is what he wanted.
30:02 And so we got it, brought it in, and it's doing wonderful.
30:05 We really try to stay away from
30:08 very high, high, high end fish, because a lot of times the price
30:12 is because they don't like to live in aquariums.
30:14 So in that regard, we stay away from fish that we think
30:17 aren't going to have great lives here.
30:19 Yeah. Yeah.
30:20 So much as a collector, you know, Ace Ventura style.
30:22 Like we're not bringing in these like wacky, wacky specimens
30:27 that don't like to live in fish tanks.
30:28 But don't be I mean, there's there's plenty of fish.
30:32 Yeah. So all right. Get back that angel fish. Yeah.
30:35 So what's what's the process?
30:37 Where did you get it from?
30:40 How do you get it?
30:41 So we have shows up in your doorstep one day.
30:43 Oh, no, no, no. So we do is we get these.
30:45 So like, you know, we have these these boxes that come in.
30:48 They're cooler boxes. Yeah.
30:49 So basically there's a 24 hour shipping cycle.
30:51 Yeah. So let's just say this came from Indonesia.
30:54 They pack it up. Oxygen.
30:57 They might even fast these fish a little bit the day before,
31:00 because the first thing the fish does when he's in the bag.
31:02 Yeah, I'm scared.
31:03 You can lose it.
31:05 But no, they prep them, put them in.
31:07 We get them and we receive them.
31:10 And we have in our facility, we have a
31:13 we're the only company that I know of in the Midwest that does this.
31:15 But we have a quarantine hallway and it's kind of like Shark Tank.
31:19 Like you walk down this big hallway and there's fish tanks on each side.
31:21 And so what we like to do is make sure that the fish are in
31:24 observe them and make sure that they're fat and happy before they go out.
31:28 So they've already had a rough trip.
31:31 They've already put in a bag and in shipped.
31:34 And that happens constantly.
31:35 But to observe them and make sure that they have, you know, can we travel
31:39 sometimes, you know, pre covid, you know, we'd be worried about
31:42 you might catch a cold or be sick just from the stress of traveling.
31:45 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:46 It's kind of like that.
31:47 Let them settle down and make sure they've got really good food.
31:50 Observe might need to medicate if they have any type of parasite
31:53 or something they have from the wild.
31:55 We do that twofold, one for the fish to make sure that it's fat
31:58 and happy and good to go.
32:00 But the second reason is because we're bringing those to either
32:03 the retail sales floor for customers are coming in,
32:06 but also for a selfish reason, our service clients,
32:10 all those already have perfect, perfectly healthy fish
32:13 that are already there.
32:15 And so if you brought somebody in who was sick
32:17 and they got everybody else sick, that would be devastating from a,
32:21 you know, a showroom quality tank in a place where it's in the public.
32:26 You have to make sure that the fish is perfectly acclimated and
32:30 has the best chance for success.
32:33 So what happens if it doesn't?
32:35 Is there a return policy?
32:36 Say that guy who got the ten thousand dollar angel fish
32:39 and that fish dies three days after he gets it.
32:41 That was that work.
32:42 That is on him.
32:44 Really? Yeah.
32:44 Well, we didn't even that's that's part of the deal.
32:47 Like we don't normally do that type of special order. Yeah.
32:49 But for someone that is a boss, someone who wants that.
32:52 Yeah, this is your gamble.
32:54 So we basically we're bringing it in, making it in the flip side
32:58 on our other fish.
33:00 We we lose. We lose.
33:01 Like that's the that's part of it.
33:02 It's usually around 5% loss the way that we do it.
33:07 So and that's like you're saying the ones that come over
33:09 and they have a cold or something and it's like and you should you would
33:12 if it dies in front of you, then obviously you take the loss.
33:15 But if it gets out from under you guys.
33:17 Yeah. Is that on them? Every fish?
33:20 Not our service clients.
33:21 OK, we have a pretty unique deal where we try to set up
33:24 for the CEOs of the world.
33:26 You know, if they're running a business, they want to have stability to what
33:28 what's their cost, how much is going to cost.
33:31 And we try to set up an all inclusive package where we've kind of taken
33:35 the aquarium hobby and flipped it upside down.
33:37 And it's not that impressive. It's true.
33:40 So like a normal fish store, like a Petco or a different fish store,
33:44 they sell you a fish. It dies like, oh, that's too bad.
33:46 Let me sell you another one.
33:48 Well, that died.
33:49 They're not really vested in making sure that your aquarium is top notch
33:53 and everything's put together well because they keep getting rewarded for more sales.
33:56 The way we like to do it with our service clients is there's a number.
34:01 This is how much it is. Great.
34:03 And we're coming out and servicing every two weeks.
34:06 Sometimes even even more than that, sometimes weekly.
34:08 We believe if we're doing that, we're the experts.
34:12 This should work great.
34:14 If there is a fish death in that in that regard,
34:16 because we have that relationship, we replace it.
34:18 We eat that call. That's that's nice.
34:21 Yeah. So that's how we feel like it's a win win.
34:23 The fish get to we have a vested interest in them doing well.
34:25 Yeah. And then from the customer's perspective, they're like, wait a second.
34:30 I'm not as I'm not as emotional or upset about the loss anymore
34:33 because we know you're replacing.
34:34 Yeah, it's a long term plan to succeed here.
34:36 Yeah. And if it doesn't, then you guys will take it.
34:38 That's that's very that's very nice.
34:40 But in special circumstances, when someone's paying $10,000 for an angelfish,
34:44 it's like, hey, this is rare.
34:46 This just so you know, everything that does everything's pretty up front.
34:49 Like it's on you.
34:50 And it's it's something that isn't isn't done very often.
34:53 Yeah. So when it's something of that high level, you know, you have to
34:56 kind of hedge your bet a little bit and have that, you know, if you want
34:59 really do everything possible to make sure that this guy is doing well
35:02 in up front, we're probably advising, hey, there's other angelfish
35:06 that are equally arguably equally as beautiful. Yeah.
35:09 However, this clearing angelfish is gorgeous.
35:13 Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
35:15 I got to look at an angelfish after this.
35:17 Now, how many of your client base are these big swinging
35:21 dick kind of CEOs and the I would say a lot.
35:25 Yeah, a lot. Well, let's put it this way.
35:27 A lot of the businesses that we put tanks in, these are bosses.
35:30 These are these are people that own high end artwork.
35:33 I had one client tell me who owns a Monet or two that this is exquisite.
35:38 Casual, casual.
35:40 Well, they were casual about it.
35:41 But I mean, like, yeah, I know to stop me and be like,
35:44 you know, this is exquisite art because it's it's moving.
35:47 It's got motion, that kind of thing.
35:48 And I was like humbled by like, whoa, that's cool.
35:51 Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.
35:53 OK, so that's that's a big thing.
35:55 And you said, so how would you if you had to put percentages on it?
35:59 What is like a home, an office,
36:01 a business?
36:04 What was like, what's the breakdown of like what you guys are installing right now?
36:09 What you're seeing in 2023, 2023, we're doing about, I'd say, 60% is business.
36:15 OK. Yeah. And then 40% are homes.
36:18 So I'll be like a like a restaurant or something like that.
36:21 Yeah, most definitely. 40% homes.
36:23 Yeah. 40% homes.
36:24 But then the
36:27 it fluctuates because we have customers that have a fish tank in their office,
36:31 fish tank in their lobby and the fish tank at their home.
36:34 So they're all they got all bases covered, all bases covered.
36:38 And that's where they get to kind of, you know, they're
36:41 they're people that don't want to choose.
36:42 They don't want to choose between a reef tank and a fish only or a freshwater.
36:47 They're so in love with it.
36:49 They want a little bit of everything.
36:50 I'm sure they dreamed about it when they were younger.
36:52 We have a lot of clients that as their careers progress,
36:56 they hit us up with, oh, we're moving.
36:58 I want to do something bigger.
37:00 And that's. Yeah.
37:01 What's the what's the Taj Mahal of fish tanks that you've made?
37:04 Let's see here.
37:07 We've got a really cool one out in Elmhurst.
37:09 That's a it's like a 700 gallon cylinder tank.
37:12 OK. And so what's cool about that is it's, you know, like you think it's cylinder,
37:17 but it gives the opportunity for the fish to swim in the circle.
37:20 So they always are kind of moving and they chase each other.
37:23 And the inside, there's a
37:27 pretty cool example of like the rock structure and they kind of swim in and out.
37:30 I have a 1300 gallon in Glenview.
37:35 We've got a really cool tank in River North at a plastic surgeon's office
37:41 where you'll be getting like a consult.
37:43 And it's like a wall. Oh, wow.
37:45 And then on the other side, there's another consult office
37:48 where they're looking up the other way.
37:49 Oh, sweet. And it gets really why it's fun to work with some of these designers.
37:53 Because they'll dream up something wild.
37:55 A lot of times they don't realize you need a lot of depth.
37:58 But that's where we come in to kind of hold her hand.
38:01 I don't know. Kind of like this is a cool concept.
38:04 Let me show you how it's possible.
38:06 Yeah. Kind of thing. And you just work from there.
38:08 Yeah. Yeah. We also do take take tank takeovers.
38:12 So that would be something like, let's say you've all seen.
38:15 I'm assuming you've seen like that TV show tanked.
38:17 I don't know if I have, but I.
38:20 So it's like Animal Planet.
38:21 Yeah, it was big.
38:23 It was it's off the air now, but it inspired a lot of people.
38:26 But we've had a couple of takeovers where a competitor or someone like them
38:30 built, you know, a really big tank for the show.
38:33 And that's one thing that's really cool.
38:35 But I think the finesse and the what we bring for that is to actually
38:40 create it in such a way that it needs to be serviced for it to look great.
38:47 You know, sometimes for the Hollywood stuff, they built a cool tank
38:50 and then these they go, bye bye.
38:51 Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like the show Pimp My Ride.
38:54 Correct. Yes.
38:55 Where the exhibit was pimping the years, putting fish tanks in the headrest.
38:59 But then, you know, who's taking care of that? Exactly. Yeah.
39:02 Yeah. That's a big part of it is like it has to be maintained well, but it's not.
39:06 It just takes regular maintenance.
39:09 Just just a just a little bit of TLC goes a long way.
39:12 I think a lot of times people kind of cover their eyes.
39:14 They're like, oh, I got this great thing.
39:15 And they do like the Tim, the tool man, Taylor, like, oh, I've got this big fish
39:19 tank and they want to ignore the other things.
39:21 And maybe they're like, I'm going to buy a better filter.
39:23 Like I'm going to buy, you know, for your home, you'd be like,
39:25 I'm going to buy a better air conditioner, a bigger one.
39:27 I'm going to oversize everything.
39:28 But in reality, you got to get in there and you got to
39:31 you got to touch everything and maintain it for it to be showroom quality.
39:35 Yeah. And not be like what I call like a science experiment.
39:37 We walk out of the scene sometimes where people kind of did it themselves.
39:41 And they got as far as they possibly could.
39:43 But the reason I refer to us as like underwater landscapers
39:47 is just that the landscaping guys, you know, there's people that like to
39:50 do their own lawn and they like to mow their own lawn.
39:53 And that's their thing.
39:54 We have a lot of those types of people.
39:56 Yeah. And there's other people that want to drink a beer
39:58 and sit back and enjoy their lawn. Yeah.
40:00 And so that's where we're really popular with those kind of guys. Yeah.
40:03 Where they just they just want to sit.
40:06 It's corny. This is what we said.
40:08 We go, we do all the work so you can take it easy.
40:11 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
40:13 That makes sense. Yeah, makes sense.
40:15 What about sharks?
40:17 I get that one a lot.
40:19 I bet. I figure. Oh, my gosh.
40:21 I've put together some pretty big quotes for some really
40:24 eccentric customers.
40:29 And I mean, it's it's staggering how much more
40:33 a couple of things you need to know about sharks.
40:36 So the same way this this desk here is arced is this and this room is a box
40:40 for sharks, they don't want a box.
40:42 They want to race way so that their nose doesn't get stuck in the corner.
40:46 Yeah. So that's kind of a thing.
40:48 The other thing that's not popular is that sharks are pretty boring.
40:51 They're not it's not like jaws.
40:54 It's not like these guys are like cool or like, let's just feed them or whatever.
40:57 They're actually they're beautiful.
40:59 They're also a little bit nocturnal.
41:01 Some of them, they like to move around at night.
41:03 And then you're also kind of limited.
41:05 Their skin doesn't allow them
41:07 the same type of medication you would for some fish.
41:10 So if you really want that ball or big tank the same size of this room.
41:14 Cool. Awesome.
41:16 A lot more expense to make it curved and a lot more expense
41:19 to do another quarantine tank, because the same way I've got a quarantine hallway,
41:23 you've got to have an equally sized, not equally, but a decent sized tank
41:27 to observe.
41:28 And because once you've gone through the process of getting it here,
41:30 getting it in the tank, it's happy, it's healthy.
41:33 You're also kind of like in a really sketchy area in the sense of
41:38 you got to have enough water to do a big water change if there is a problem.
41:41 Yeah, it just gets everything gets much more complex.
41:44 So and we're talking big numbers.
41:46 I think I did like a quote for like a I think it was like a 10,000 gallon aquarium.
41:50 And I want to say it was like close to three quarters of a million dollars.
41:54 And this is like eight years ago. Wow.
41:57 And so it really separates the men from the boys.
41:59 You know what I mean? Like, oh, yeah, if you're like,
42:01 did they pull the trigger on it? No, no, no.
42:03 I got big time.
42:05 It was like, yeah, we'll do it.
42:06 And I was like, OK, yeah, I need it here next month.
42:09 And I was like, sir, this is like building a house.
42:12 But there's no like, you know, I don't care how much money you have.
42:16 Yeah. And we're competing that you're not really competing.
42:18 But there is the same, you know, getting stuff from three M
42:21 getting the acrylic and getting our folks at Titan.
42:24 They want this one of our big acrylic manufacturers,
42:26 and they build for all the different zoos.
42:29 You know, you're trying to get in front of people in Dubai.
42:31 You know, we're talking about Dubai money.
42:32 You're not going to like throw some extra dollars
42:34 and get to be able to get in front of anyone else like.
42:37 Yeah, these are all big time players in the game.
42:39 So you get to that realm.
42:40 It's kind of like the most important thing is securing what they want, the shape
42:44 and then securing material.
42:46 It's similar to building a house because you have to like what you
42:50 would have cost today may not be what it costs six months from now.
42:52 And so holding hands through that
42:55 to answer your question like that's the biggest, you know, sharks.
42:59 Everyone talks about sharks when they get down to the nuts and bolts.
43:01 Like, what do you want in the tank?
43:03 As soon as you can understand that sharks are awesome.
43:07 But like you should go to the shed for some of that kind of stuff.
43:09 If it's based on space, especially in Chicago,
43:12 who's going to dedicate that much space towards it?
43:15 And then you almost need a whole separate facility to really have a shark.
43:19 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow.
43:21 That's that's fascinating.
43:23 Needs to be cylinder and that much goes into it.
43:26 And that's how much it would be if you wanted sharks.
43:27 Yeah. And there's a lot of cool sharks that are also allowed
43:31 to be like transported that would maybe work out, work well.
43:34 Yeah. And I really get into like a legal stuff.
43:36 How often are you presented with a legal activity?
43:40 Ironically, I will get emails, things like that
43:45 for some people to try to get stuff shipped to us from outside the country
43:48 that aren't in a kind of.
43:51 So we have our staples.
43:52 We have our tried and true places that we go to. Yeah.
43:55 For that. But yeah, not not not as often as you think.
43:59 When I think of the legalization of weed, I think that's pretty much
44:01 the only other, you know, I think a lot of customers do partake.
44:05 Yeah, that's what I wonder.
44:07 Like, how often is it like, hey, I got this.
44:10 Don't ask how I got it, but I have it. I need your help.
44:13 We haven't gotten that. Yeah.
44:16 I think we've had guys talk a big game about that.
44:18 Yeah. The logistics of actually bringing something like that in is near impossible.
44:22 Hard. I mean, I mean, we're talking prison.
44:25 You want to bring something through customs that's not supposed to go through.
44:28 You get fucked. Oh, yeah. No tanks.
44:30 Yeah. No, you're right about that.
44:32 You hear about like, oh, I found these snapping turtles in the basement
44:36 of this business.
44:37 And you know what I mean?
44:39 In this part of town, you'll hear that whole thing.
44:40 And that's fascinating.
44:43 And then what about while we're on sharks, actually? Yeah.
44:46 I mean, you seem like, you know, a lot about kind of everything that's going on
44:51 and, you know, the oceans and everything like that.
44:53 This I watch that conspiracy doc.
44:56 I don't know if you saw that one.
44:57 But they talk about shark fin soup.
44:58 Oh, and how is it?
45:00 It's like mutilating the shark population.
45:02 It's absurd. It's heartbreaking.
45:03 It really is, because I don't care who you are.
45:06 I mean, I watch some of those videos and it's it's terrible.
45:09 It's terrible in that respect.
45:12 The the netting that goes on the way that they're just capturing
45:16 all these different types of fish is really hard to regulate these types of things.
45:19 It's just it's just a bunch of knuckleheads, to be honest,
45:23 because they're really depleting the ocean in a major way
45:27 that doesn't need to happen at all. Yeah.
45:29 It's just like everything else.
45:33 It's politics. It really is.
45:35 I mean, the way that people harvest, you know, you could be smart about it.
45:37 You know, even just from tuna consumption.
45:39 I mean, there's a big, big part of the industry that capitalism
45:43 that'll just devour big parts of the ocean, which is short sighted.
45:48 It really is.
45:49 I think there's it takes more people to be talking about it
45:52 and actually get more involvement.
45:54 But like we can do a great job here in the US and have good regulations, whatnot.
45:58 But then how does that translate to other governments?
46:02 They're just turning a blind eye and grabbing it.
46:04 I think it starts with also, you know, getting other countries to stop purchasing,
46:08 you know, supply and demand.
46:09 If they could stop that, they would greatly impact.
46:12 But yeah, I don't know about the shark.
46:14 The shark fin stuff is just it's brutal.
46:16 It's similar to like, you know, ivory.
46:18 Yeah. Ivory with with elephants like you're just not even using the the animal.
46:23 You're just taking it for those.
46:25 Yeah. Desirable tusks.
46:26 Yeah. For people that aren't familiar, to my knowledge,
46:29 what I saw on that doc, at least, is that there are parts in Asia
46:32 where they're overfishing sharks and they're just cutting off the fin
46:35 and they're putting in the soup and the soup is like super bland.
46:38 It's not even like a tasteful thing where people really enjoy it.
46:40 But it's a status thing. Yeah.
46:42 It's like a high class, like you're you're you look elite and people want to,
46:45 you know, get some social media clout or something.
46:48 Then some type of health benefit or that kind of thing.
46:51 Is there that to the alleged alleged alleged that you don't really know?
46:56 No. But yeah, it's like it's like a it's like a big thing.
46:58 A shark shark.
46:59 Kind of. Yeah.
47:00 And between that and also the different stigmas that sharks have,
47:03 you know, I saw a video the other day of like a whale shark being
47:06 mutilated, that kind of thing.
47:08 These are beautiful creatures that aren't.
47:10 It's not like the movie Jaws, like I've seen them in the ocean.
47:13 Yeah, they're majestic.
47:14 I would I would be lying if I wasn't a little like just
47:17 pre pre programmed to be nervous.
47:21 But they're majestic creatures.
47:22 They're really, really cool.
47:23 And they're they're apex predators.
47:25 It's a big part of the ocean.
47:27 And you eliminate that.
47:28 A lot of other things can go go awry.
47:30 But yeah, I just it's just it's it needs more coverage.
47:34 Again, the ocean is huge, huge, huge.
47:37 So you were talking about, you know, chasing down individual boats
47:41 and trying to regulate those types of things.
47:43 At the end of the day, it's just it's it's poor, poor management,
47:48 you know, poor ethics, I would say, short sightedness in general, because,
47:52 you know, it's just they're not going to be it's not going to be around
47:55 for much longer at this rate if people keep attacking it this way.
47:58 It does. You said the reef there, they're finding ways to,
48:01 you know, get past the the temperature
48:04 restrictions that they're finding.
48:07 Is it is it looking more positive now or I don't know how much you follow us?
48:11 I followed a lot.
48:12 I do. And I think there's there's some misconception
48:15 like chasing corals was another one.
48:17 That's it's a good documentary. It's kind of depressing.
48:19 But at the same token, it really kind of gives you
48:23 an idea of the bleaching and that's what it's called.
48:26 There's there's coral that when the flesh dies on the outside,
48:30 it shows the skeleton.
48:31 The coral has skeleton just like you and I,
48:34 where it's like the bone structure behind it.
48:37 And they actually consume calcium and alkalinity
48:40 and they produce and that's how they grow. And
48:43 yeah, when it starts going south, temperature wise,
48:46 or there's there's different pollutants that can affect this as well.
48:50 It's a downward spiral that affects.
48:53 It's called bleaching, where all the vibrant colors then just turn white
48:57 and they get kind of funky with different allergies.
49:00 And then it just becomes like a graveyard where there's just fish.
49:04 But then it's all there.
49:04 I'll have symbiotic relationships.
49:06 So they are they need each other really bad.
49:10 So as far as what the coral restoration project does,
49:13 I think I explained a little bit earlier about fragging,
49:16 where they take a colony and they cut it up into smaller sections.
49:19 You can plant essentially where you super glue them to rocks, essentially.
49:25 And to get an idea of like speed of growth, it's like your fingernail.
49:30 At the speed of your fingernail grows, some of these corals, not all of them,
49:33 but this is just how I explain it.
49:35 They will repopulate, propagate.
49:38 So the coral restoration foundation,
49:40 they will actually go down and create these like
49:43 almost like Christmas tree things out of like PVC or rocks or different things
49:47 that they will plant all this different coral.
49:49 And they'll plant in all these different areas to repopulate devastated areas.
49:55 And it's like the rainforest.
49:57 I mean, it's something that's very crucial to our planet.
49:59 It's funny.
50:00 I'm talking about this, but I'm very passionate about the fact that like
50:03 it's a it's a big deal.
50:05 I think that's a big part of like why we do these different types of things,
50:09 like with the explaining and teaching about coral, even to the new generation.
50:14 Like I love when a kid is interested in the fish, the fish tank
50:18 and how it all works, because it's kind of like passing the baton.
50:21 The more they understand it, the more they will value it.
50:24 I know it's kind of like an uphill battle of sorts, but that's how I got into it.
50:28 That's how I appreciate it.
50:29 And I think it's it's just it's crucial to this.
50:33 We got so much access to information and technology.
50:36 Yeah. So Coral Restoration Foundation is a is a big advocate for repopulating the reefs.
50:42 Yeah. I mean, you have to be.
50:45 It would be obviously a big shame if it were to go extinct.
50:48 Yeah, for sure.
50:50 And what was was interesting, too, we were talking earlier.
50:54 You have turned this business into another business where you have a bar now.
50:59 Correct. Correct.
51:01 Which is unbelievable. It is. It really is.
51:03 So, yeah, it's called Lost Reef, Lost Reef Lounge.
51:06 And it's right down the street.
51:07 It's at Belmont and Sheffield.
51:09 And what it is, it's a cocktail lounge that we have eight different fish tanks.
51:13 We've got four fish only with like predator fish
51:17 and then four reef tanks that have the live coral
51:20 and pretty much the cast of Finding Nemo is in all these different tanks.
51:23 And so it's you know, it was an opportunity to showcase what we do,
51:29 because a lot of our fish tanks are if you work at a cool office,
51:33 then you get to see their awesome fish tank
51:36 or some of our home tanks if you're at a dinner party.
51:38 You'd see some of these fish tanks, but a little bit of a social experiment
51:42 in the sense that we don't have TVs.
51:44 It's like it's very old school, like cocktail lounge.
51:48 We have a bunch of signature drinks that we do there.
51:51 But it's a really cool date spot, really, because it's all the fish tanks
51:55 are like forty six inches tall off the ground.
51:58 So if someone's standing and looking at the tank,
52:00 their torso isn't blocking the fish.
52:04 And so you kind of see what's going on.
52:06 There really isn't a bad seat in the place because you're just wherever you're at.
52:10 You're surrounded by these fish tanks.
52:11 Yeah, like cool lighting.
52:12 And it's it's not we've been open since February.
52:16 I got to come check it out. Yeah, we do.
52:18 That sounds pretty sweet, man.
52:19 Yeah. Like that's a bar with fish tanks instead of TVs
52:23 in the heart of Wrigleyville.
52:25 Exactly. Yeah, it is.
52:27 It is wild. Very wild.
52:30 Yeah, but it's it's proven.
52:31 I mean, like you see people walk in who either have a lot of knowledge
52:34 or no knowledge of fish tanks and their eyeballs are just super wide.
52:38 Yeah. To kind of just see everything.
52:40 And we've got, you know, we got a map of puffer.
52:43 That's the size of like a football in one of our corner tanks.
52:46 We've got zebra eels and snowflake eels, a lot of different coral.
52:51 Actually, one of the corals that we became a little well known in the industry
52:55 for, I think you've heard of like an anemone.
52:57 Yeah. So the clownfish swims in the anemone protection.
53:01 It's called so we didn't name it this, but it's like a really awesome
53:05 like fuchsia colors. It's called the Chicago sunburst anemone.
53:09 So we there's no natural reefs around here, but we've propagated these.
53:15 And so anemones, they split and divide and they're just very sought after.
53:19 There's another one called the Colorado sunburst for some reason.
53:23 They're very similar.
53:25 But one of our best selling cocktails is the Chicago sunburst
53:29 named after this anemone. Oh, wow. Became popular for. That's cool.
53:32 Do you have a do you have a drink with the the gummy shark?
53:35 We don't. All right. Look into that one.
53:38 Well, people like those.
53:41 We'll get you some gummies. Yeah.
53:43 Um, or you got a Swedish fish on deck.
53:46 That's another one.
53:47 You got to this sounds like our first creation meeting.
53:49 We were talking about goldfish, Swedish fish.
53:52 They kind of went a high end direction where that didn't
53:56 didn't exactly pan out that way.
53:58 But there is like a mezcal cured salmon.
54:01 And oh, yeah, it's really it's all delicious stuff.
54:05 Oh, yeah. So the restaurant, too. Yeah. Yeah. OK, cool.
54:07 Yeah, very much so. Wow. All right, then, Brian.
54:11 We could we could wrap it up here, I guess.
54:13 Maybe before we wrap it up, though, if someone did want to kind of get into
54:16 an entry level thing, what do you typically recommend?
54:19 Like what kind of tank? What kind of fish?
54:21 What is well, of course, obviously called tank it easy if you want to go that route
54:25 to but absolutely so, you know, our eight thousand square foot showroom
54:29 is at forty six forty two West Lawrence.
54:32 But there we have a lot of examples of really good hardy fish.
54:37 The godsent is that the clownfish is actually a very hardy saltwater fish.
54:41 Oh, that's awesome.
54:42 So for it's a crowd pleaser.
54:44 So you bring in some clownfish, bring in some Nemos to start out the tank
54:47 and everyone's really, really happy.
54:50 And moving on from there, Dory, the blue tang.
54:53 I would kind of wait on that until you have about a I'd say a hundred
54:56 and one hundred and fifty gallon tank.
54:58 I think a lot of people mistake that and they go right in real fast.
55:01 And like they want the cast.
55:03 Clownfish are great.
55:05 There's different tanks that are really cool, like sailfin tanks.
55:09 Those need the nori like you have on your sushi.
55:12 Yeah. Put a clip in there and they kind of eat it that.
55:15 And they also have mysid shrimp as well.
55:18 But yeah, bang guy cardinals.
55:21 Those are really cool.
55:22 They're like zebra shaped or zebra shaped zebra shaped zebra colored.
55:26 So they have like deviations through the eye.
55:29 They're really cool in their mouth breeders.
55:30 So if you have a if they do breed in your tank, one day you look at one
55:34 and it has like a their mouth is kind of like a dump truck.
55:36 Oh, wow. And like the dad will open the mouth and you'll just see like
55:40 hundreds of little eyes looking at you in the mouth.
55:44 Wow. Yeah. So it's pretty crazy.
55:45 That's a fun, fun thing for the family.
55:47 But yeah, I think, you know, I would say before you get into it,
55:51 really understand, you know, go shop around, take a look, go to the bar,
55:56 check out the different fish tanks, because you really kind of want to know
56:00 what your target is, because you can tell me one fish you really want
56:04 and I can design a fish tank around it.
56:06 Whereas or kind of guide you in which which one makes more sense.
56:10 Yeah. Because again, if you said shark, I have the shark talk with you.
56:14 But if you were like, I really want to have an eel. Cool.
56:17 Well, that's something that would probably a fish only.
56:19 And we talk more about cool puffer fish.
56:21 And they have a whole variety of whole cast in themselves for that.
56:25 Or if you're, you know, baller status, you're doing a little bit of both.
56:29 Yeah. And then it's easier to tell, you know, at all. Wow.
56:32 Fascinating stuff. I really enjoyed this, Brian.
56:35 Thanks for having me. Yeah.
56:37 One more time. What's the website number?
56:39 So it's a tank. It easy is for everything aquariums.
56:43 You can check us out there.
56:44 Our Instagram is tank it easy.
56:47 If you want to see me doing a bunch of real silly stuff,
56:49 you got to take it easy TV on YouTube. Perfect.
56:52 You'll see me doing a bunch of wacky stuff.
56:53 But then, yeah, Lost Reef, Belmont and Sheffield.
56:57 Lost Reef, Lost Reef, Chicago is the Instagram.
57:00 OK, you'll see little examples of that.
57:02 But that's a great date spot.
57:04 We also do like company parties, that kind of thing.
57:06 Awesome. Glad Carl ran into you.
57:08 That was, you know. Thanks, Carl.
57:11 There we go. Because this was a fun pod.
57:13 Thanks again, Brian. Appreciate it. I appreciate you.
57:16 All right, everybody. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening.
57:17 We'll see you next time.
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