Brisbane’s largest residential aquarium is up for grabs, with its home in Capalaba now up for sale.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom home at 4 Stuart St has not been sold in 17 years, after its owners bought it and turned it into a pet fish’s paradise.
The house at 4 Stuart St, Capalaba, is home to Brisbane’s largest residential aquarium.
The property contains a 14,000 litre pool right beneath the living area, big enough to house several types of sharks.
Homeowner Luke Steele said at first, the plan was simply to build over the 14,000 litre pool originally on the property, until his father-in-law thought of the idea to refurbish it.
“I had saltwater tanks beforehand, and we just saw the opportunity,” he said.
“We’ve had a [wobbegong] shark, a stingray, lionfish, stonefish. We’ve had just about every aquarium fish known to man over the years.”
The aquarium can be viewed from above, through sturdy windows right next to the kitchen counter.
It also has a viewing area below ground, and a spot for people to enter and go snorkelling.
The house is built on top of the aquarium, meaning residents can view the fish from both downstairs and above the tank. Three viewing windows have been placed above the tank by the kitchen, with accessible areas for the family to go swimming.
“Watching the kids swim in the aquarium, it’s literally like taking them to the reef,” Mr Steele said. “The kids would go in snorkelling, which is something I’ve never really heard of before.”
The home is 1,720 sqm large, and has been owned by the Steele family for 17 years.
The house sits on a 1,720 sqm block, which includes a new pool with slides that was built to replace the former one.
Meanwhile, the area is surrounded by a garden with plants inspired by the tropics of North Queensland.
Most of the renovations to the home were made in the first few years of the Steele’s ownership, with several recent touch-ups being made to prepare for the sale.
“We’ve had just about every aquarium fish known to man over the years.”
The family is moving to a farm further from the sea, and hopes the home will be passed to someone who will care for the aquarium like they did.
With the family looking to move to a farm inland, they decided to part ways with their fish – but installed new wildlife for the next owner, and have details for a professional to handle maintenance.
“It’s really ready for someone who’s a real marine enthusiast to go real nuts with it,” Mr Steele said. “Anyone who’s actually seen this aquarium has been wowed by it … it’d absolutely be sad to see it shut down and turned into a storage area.”
The house will be going up for auction with LJ Hooker on March 21.
“It is something very special,” he added. ‘It was a real lot of work – a lot of time and effort has gone into it.”
The home is going to auction on Saturday March 21, sold by LJ Hooker agents Jimmy Regan and Shane Kelsey.
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