Brett Raymer | Celebrity Net Worth 2026

Biography & Early Wealth Journey

Brett Raymer is best known as the longtime chief operating officer and sales force behind Acrylic Tank Manufacturing, the Las Vegas custom-aquarium company featured on the Animal Planet reality series "Tanked." Alongside his brother-in-law Wayde King, Raymer helped turn ATM from a small family business into an internationally recognized aquarium company whose elaborate creations were installed in homes, casinos, restaurants, businesses, and celebrity properties around the world.

"Tanked" premiered in 2011 and ultimately produced more than 150 episodes. While King was generally the technical perfectionist of the partnership, Raymer was the salesman, promoter, and larger-than-life personality who frequently promised clients seemingly impossible aquariums and then challenged the shop to figure out how to build them. Celebrity customers included Shaquille O'Neal, Tracy Morgan, Kevin Hart, Kobe Bryant, Gene Simmons, Dwight Howard, Howie Mandel, and numerous other entertainers and athletes.

Raymer has said that the television exposure helped increase ATM's annual revenue from roughly $2 million before the show's success to around $10 million at its peak, while its workforce grew from about five employees to approximately 60. After "Tanked" ended and ATM eventually closed, Raymer moved into the restaurant business. He founded Stallone's Italian Eatery in Las Vegas and later returned to aquarium design through BR Design Group.

Early Life

Primary Income Streams & Multi-Million Contracts

Brett Raymer was born on October 25, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the Manhattan Beach section of Brooklyn in a family that would eventually become central to both his business and television career. His father, Irwin Raymer, later became a familiar face to "Tanked" viewers as "The General," while Brett's sister Heather married Wayde King.

Raymer attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, where athletics were an important part of his youth. He played football and tennis and also competed on the swimming team. For a period, he envisioned sports playing a much larger role in his future, but injuries helped put an end to those ambitions.

Raymer later attended Stony Brook University on Long Island. His path after school was anything but straightforward, and he has spoken openly in later interviews about experiencing serious personal and legal trouble before eventually building his business career.

Legal Trouble and Moving to Las Vegas

Real Estate, Luxury Assets & Personal Investments

In a 2026 interview, Raymer publicly discussed a portion of his life that had received relatively little attention during the years "Tanked" was on television.

Raymer said that after moving to Las Vegas in the 1990s, he became involved in selling drugs and was eventually arrested after someone close to him cooperated with authorities. According to Raymer, he served approximately 15 months in federal custody at a facility associated with Nellis Air Force Base.

He has described the experience as one of several turning points in his life. After his release, Raymer said he focused on rebuilding his life and gaining custody of his daughter. He gradually moved away from the instability of his earlier years and toward legitimate business opportunities.

His father had already relocated to Las Vegas, and the family connections that formed there would ultimately bring Brett into the aquarium industry.

Wealth Trajectory & Future Earnings Projections

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Acrylic Tank Manufacturing

The origins of Acrylic Tank Manufacturing revolved around Raymer's family. Wayde King, an experienced aquarium builder originally from Long Island, met Brett's parents after they hired him to build an aquarium for their Las Vegas home. King subsequently met Brett's sister Heather, and the two eventually married.

King established Acrylic Tank Manufacturing in Las Vegas, and Brett joined him in building the business. Raymer became ATM's chief operating officer and headed much of its sales operation.

The division of labor between the two men became fundamental to both the company and eventually "Tanked." King had years of hands-on aquarium experience and concentrated on fabrication, engineering, installation, filtration, and livestock. Raymer excelled at finding customers, selling ambitious concepts, negotiating projects, promoting the business, and convincing people that ATM could build virtually anything they imagined.

The company began in a relatively small space but ultimately operated from a roughly 37,000-square-foot facility in Las Vegas. ATM built residential aquariums as well as enormous commercial installations for hotels, casinos, restaurants, retail businesses, entertainment venues, and public attractions.

Raymer later said that before television transformed the company, ATM was generating roughly $2 million per year. At its peak following the success of "Tanked," he estimated annual revenue reached approximately $10 million.

Creating "Tanked"

Raymer was instrumental not only in selling aquariums but also in selling ATM itself as a television concept.

He has said that the idea developed after he watched reality programs built around unusual family businesses, particularly shows that demonstrated how an ordinary trade could become entertaining television if the personalities were strong enough. ATM had no shortage of personalities. Brett and Wayde argued constantly, Heather worked inside the company, their father Irwin offered unsolicited opinions on nearly everything, and the shop's employees became part of the family atmosphere.

Raymer began pursuing the idea of a television show years before it actually reached the air. The concept eventually landed at Animal Planet, and "Tanked" premiered in August 2011.

The format was straightforward but highly effective. Each episode followed Raymer and King as they met clients, dreamed up an elaborate aquarium, returned to Las Vegas to fabricate it, and then traveled back for the installation and reveal. The process was condensed dramatically for television; projects that appeared to come together almost instantly often required weeks of design, construction, logistics, and fish preparation behind the scenes.

The actual aquarium business provided the structure, but much of the show's entertainment came from Raymer and King's contrasting personalities.

Celebrity Clients

As "Tanked" became successful, celebrities became increasingly important to the show's appeal.

Shaquille O'Neal commissioned multiple aquariums from ATM. Tracy Morgan also became a repeat customer and aquarium enthusiast, eventually commissioning an enormous shark tank. Other celebrity clients and participants included Neil Patrick Harris, David Hasselhoff, Howie Mandel, Dwight Howard, 2 Chainz, Tyga, Johnny Damon, Prince Fielder, Jeff Dunham, Penn & Teller, and Gabriel Iglesias.

Some customers independently approached ATM because they wanted one of the company's tanks. Raymer has explained that in other cases, production itself helped arrange celebrity participation. Regardless of how the customer reached the show, ATM was compensated for the aquarium work, and clients could be responsible for costs that exceeded the production budget.

The celebrity projects also gave Raymer access to exactly the type of environment in which he thrived. His outgoing personality made him a natural frontman for meeting clients and presenting increasingly extravagant ideas.

"Tanked" Success

"Tanked" became one of Animal Planet's signature reality programs and ran for 15 seasons, producing more than 150 episodes.

The show's audience extended well beyond the United States. Raymer has said that the series was distributed internationally and dubbed or translated for viewers around the world, creating an unusual level of fame for people whose original business was building fish tanks.

That fame came with substantial financial benefits for ATM. Raymer said the company grew from approximately five employees to around 60 during its peak period. The program functioned as an hour-long advertisement for ATM's capabilities, exposing the company to potential customers who otherwise might never have heard of a specialty aquarium manufacturer in Las Vegas.

The television compensation itself was a different matter. Raymer later said that he was paid for appearing in each episode but did not receive ownership in the series or continuing residual payments when episodes were rerun. In retrospect, he has expressed frustration that he did not negotiate for a share of the program he helped create.

End of "Tanked" and ATM

The final episodes of "Tanked" aired in 2018, and Animal Planet confirmed in 2019 that the series would not continue.

Raymer has subsequently described several factors behind the show's conclusion, including rising production costs, changes at the network, and increasingly difficult family relationships behind the scenes. The business and family had become so intertwined that conflicts among relatives could affect both ATM and television production.

Raymer eventually separated from the company. He has said that his departure left ATM without the person who had handled much of its sales and promotion, and the business later closed.

The ending was financially significant for him personally. Raymer has said that losing "Tanked" meant losing roughly $1 million per year in income connected to his television and business activities. Rather than attempting to recreate the show immediately, he began exploring businesses outside the aquarium industry.

Donut Mania

One of Raymer's first major ventures outside ATM was Donut Mania, a Las Vegas doughnut business.

Raymer took over the company in 2017 and aggressively expanded it. Donut Mania grew to four Las Vegas-area locations and sold dozens of varieties of specialty doughnuts, fritters, swirls, and other desserts. Raymer promoted the stores through his "Tanked" celebrity and frequently appeared at the locations himself.

He spoke publicly about eventually franchising the concept and expanding outside Nevada.

The venture did not last. All four Donut Mania locations closed in 2019 while the business was involved in a legal dispute with Pinkbox Doughnuts. Pinkbox had accused Donut Mania of misappropriating trade secrets and intellectual property. Raymer said at the time that negotiations over the dispute were ongoing.

Stallone's Italian Eatery

Raymer later returned to the restaurant industry with Stallone's Italian Eatery, a Brooklyn-inspired Italian restaurant in Las Vegas.

He opened the first Stallone's location on Silverado Ranch Boulevard in 2022. The menu emphasized pizza, pasta, meatballs, garlic knots, and hero sandwiches inspired by the food Raymer grew up eating in Brooklyn.

The restaurant subsequently expanded with a second location inside Santa Fe Station Hotel and Casino.

Unlike some reality personalities who merely license their names to businesses, Raymer has remained publicly involved in the operation. Stallone's markets itself around his Brooklyn background and family recipes, and Raymer has frequently worked inside the restaurants and interacted directly with customers.

The venture also allowed him to incorporate another of his passions: sports memorabilia. The Santa Fe Station location includes a collection of signed and unsigned sports items and artwork.

Return to the Aquarium Business

After spending several years away from aquarium construction, Raymer eventually returned to the industry that made him famous.

He launched BR Design Group, serving as the company's president and focusing once again on custom residential and commercial aquarium installations. The company designs complete aquatic environments, including acrylic tanks, filtration, cabinetry, lighting, livestock planning, and ongoing maintenance considerations.

The business effectively represents a new version of Raymer's earlier career, but without the ATM family structure that defined "Tanked."

Raymer has also expressed interest in documenting new aquarium projects through online video and potentially developing additional aquarium-focused entertainment. Decades after first entering the industry, he continues to use the combination that drove ATM's success: ambitious aquarium concepts paired with his ability to promote and sell them.

Personal Life

Raymer has two children, Kayla and Bryce, from an earlier marriage. His father Irwin and sister Heather both became television personalities through their involvement with "Tanked."

His longtime partner Trisha Chamberlain also appeared on "Tanked." The couple's relationship blended their families, and Trisha became involved in some of Raymer's later business ventures.

Raymer is an avid sports fan, an interest that dates back to his own athletic ambitions growing up in Brooklyn. That enthusiasm has carried into his business life through sports-themed aquarium projects, memorabilia collecting, and the décor at Stallone's.

His career has included unusually sharp turns: athlete, legal trouble, aquarium salesman, reality television star, doughnut-shop operator, restaurateur, and finally a return to aquarium design. The constant throughout much of that trajectory has been Raymer's talent for sales and promotion, the skill that helped transform a small Las Vegas aquarium shop into the business at the center of one of Animal Planet's longest-running reality series.

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