Thierry Henry to rebuild ?6m mansion to fit 4-storey aquarium for 300 fishes

London, Feb 19 (ANI): Footballer Thierry Henri is so keen to have a 40-feet aquarium stretching from the bottom of his house to the top for his 300 fish, that he wants to rebuild his luxury home to accommodate it.

The four-storey aquarium will take 5,500 gallons of water to fill and cost a staggering 250,000 pounds to build, the Daily Mail reported.

The former Arsenal striker has lodged controversial plans to demolish his 5.9 million pounds North London house, which was completed only in 1999 and is described as one of the finest examples of modern architecture in the UK, and replace it with a larger property.

His proposals detail the extravagant four-storey aquarium.

As well as the vast cost of construction, the 15ft long by 3ft wide tank will set the 34-year-old back 12,000 pounds a year to run, including weekly inspections at about 50 pounds an hour. The annual bill for fish food alone would be 2,500 pounds.

The French footballer, who fronted the 'va-va-voom' TV adverts for car firm Renault, is the latest in a long line of celebrities including Madonna, the Beckhams, Cher and Premier League footballers Stephen Ireland, Joe Hart and Micah Richards, to splash out on opulent fish tanks.

Ireland has reportedly spent more than 100,000 pounds on his 13ft aquarium, and is now believed to be planning a shark tank under his kitchen floor.

However, Henry's super-size version will dwarf them all.

His aquarium will actually be made up of four separate tanks, one for each storey of the house.

Each will be made of Perspex-like material and will give the optical illusion of one giant aquarium but will be cheaper to clean, run and maintain than a single tank.

One industry expert said that the 12,000 pounds-a-year bill for heating, cleaning and lighting the tanks would be just a fraction of the 80,000 pounds it would cost to maintain one huge tank.

Each aquarium will require a filtration system to ensure the water stays clean and fresh. Experts say there are 2,000 species of marine life suitable for the tanks, ranging from smaller breeds of shark to clown fish, yellow tangs, blue tangs and angel fish. (ANI)