Digital aquarium
A living aquarium right in the browser. Fish swim in shoals between stones and colourful plants, day turns to night and a click feeds the fish. No video, no libraries, on any website.
A living aquarium in the browser that fits into any website
Brief
I wanted to show what an ordinary browser can do today when the code is written with care. The goal was an aquarium that feels alive, runs smoothly even on a weaker laptop or TV and drops into any website as a single block. No looping video and no third-party libraries.
Solution
The fish, light and water are drawn in real time over a photorealistic scene with stones, driftwood and plants. Each fish has its own behaviour: angelfish glide through the middle, neon tetras stay in a shoal, corydoras search for food on the bottom and now and then swim up to the surface for air.
- Shoals with natural movement: fish keep their distance, swim together and change direction
- Depth: fish at the back swim behind the stones and plants, those at the front pass in front of them
- Bubbles, light rays and reflections on the bottom
- A day and night cycle with smooth dimming, with adjustable day and night length
- Feeding with a click or the F key, the fish swim to the food
- Inhabitants panel: set the number of angelfish, neon tetras, corydoras and guppies yourself
- Filter and bubbling sound, off by default
- Full-screen mode for monitors and TVs in shops and waiting rooms
- Visitor settings are remembered in the browser
- The aquarium pauses when it is not visible and keeps itself smooth on weaker devices
- Respects the system reduced-motion setting and works with the keyboard
Result
A finished app in a single code block (plus the background images) that drops into WordPress, Elementor or a custom website. It needs no server or database. On this website you will also find it on the 404 page, where the lost page swam away.
As a sales catalogue, where the fish in stock swim and a click shows the price, the aquarium runs in the demo shop Akvaristika U Korálu. On its own I offer it as the app Live catalogue.
Who it is for
Receptions and waiting rooms, hotels and guesthouses, cafés, aquarium shops and websites that want to catch and hold a visitor’s attention. I adapt the fish species, plants, colours and light to your brand and screen. More about deployment on the Apps page, and I will price it for you via the enquiry form.
