Martin Lakin's love of tropical fish is on another scale. The aquatic-mad husband stunned his wife with his decision to splash out on a £150,000 aquarium at their home in Strood.

His monster tank is big enough to swim in and contains 130 marine fish and a living coral reef, which can be viewed in three rooms.

Mr Lakin, 49, doesn't regret his expenditure. But for the same price as the fish tank he could have bought an entire two-bedroom terraced home in Sheerness - and still had change.

The couple from King Arthur’s Drive, Strood, installed the 1,000 gallon saltwater aquarium three years ago.

Mrs Lakin, 53, said that, despite some national newspaper reports, Kay was fully aware of her husband’s plans when she went to Tenerife to visit her sister.

She said: “When he said he wanted a big fish tank he wanted to move house, but I didn’t want to move, I love my house, I love my garden and I love where I live.

“The compromise was, you can have your bigger fish tank here, but he pushed all the boundaries.”

Mrs Lakin had always planned to house sit for her mother for three weeks after her return from Tenerife, but building work took longer than they expected.

She added: “But I was coming back on a daily basis to wash up the mugs and make sure the workmen were okay.”

Mrs Lakin and their son James, now 15, ended up spending three months away from home, but the family do now have a much larger living room as the wall into the double garage had to be knocked through.

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