Aquarium marketplace

A whole aquarium, online

An online aquarium marketplace for Singapore that brings live fish, aquatic plants, tanks and equipment from 500+ merchants into one storefront - wrapped in a fishkeeping quiz, a community feed and a blog, so buying for a tank is discovery as much as checkout.

Aquarium marketplaceLive-fish commerceShopper / merchant / community
FishyHub product screen

Category

  • Aquarium marketplace
  • Singapore, online 24/7

Catalog

  • 15 shop categories
  • 9 fish families

Marketplace

  • 500+ merchants
  • Shopper / seller / community

Design scope

  • UX + UI design
  • Storefront + marketplace + community
The premise

What is FishyHub built to do?

Fishkeeping is not one purchase - it is livestock, plants, a tank, filtration, food and know-how, often from very different sellers. FishyHub gathers all of it into a single aquarium marketplace for Singapore, so a hobbyist can stock a whole tank without hopping between shops.

A storefront, a marketplace and a community in one

A storefront, a marketplace and a community in one

Shoppers discover and buy across a deep catalog; hundreds of merchants run their own storefronts on the platform; and a community feed, blog and reviews turn a transaction into a hobby. Each side gets its own surface on top of one shared catalog of livestock, plants, tanks and gear.

Many sellers, one storefrontThe catalog is fed by 500+ merchants - each with their own storefront page - so a shopper browses one marketplace rather than chasing a dozen separate fish shops.
Discovery built for a hobbyA fishkeeping quiz matches newcomers to the right livestock, while 15 categories and 9 fish families let seasoned keepers filter straight to the species they want.
Community keeps people coming backA social feed, a fishkeeping blog and Google reviews sit alongside the shop, so the platform is somewhere to learn the hobby, not only to check out of it.
The design problem

Why can't a fish store just be a normal web shop?

A generic cart assumes a single seller, a boxed product and a shopper who already knows what they want. An aquarium breaks all three: the stock is live, it comes from many small sellers, and most buyers need guidance before they can choose. Holding that in one clean storefront was the core problem.

The stock comes from many sellersLivestock is not a boxed productBuyers need help choosing
Buying for an aquariumA single online pet shopOn FishyHub
Range of livestockOne shop's stock500+ merchants in one marketplace
Live fish handlingGeneric parcel shippingAquarium-specific delivery and services
Knowing what to buyA bare product gridA fishkeeping quiz that matches you
Learning the hobbyNo guidanceCommunity feed, blog and reviews
Finding a speciesBasic search15 categories and 9 fish families
Starting from scratchBuy every part separatelyAdventure Packs - ready-made tank sets
Inside the marketplace

What does the storefront actually let you do?

Every screen here is drawn from the live platform - the discovery home, the shop, a category, a product, a merchant storefront and the community feed that keeps the hobby social.

Livestock

9 fish families

The heart of the catalog - live fish organised into families so a keeper filters straight to the species and size that suits their tank.

  • Bettas
  • Guppies
  • Goldfish
  • Discus
  • Angelfish
  • Shellfish & shrimp

Aquascaping & plants

4 plant zones

Aquatic plants sorted by where they sit in the tank, so an aquascape comes together layer by layer.

  • Background
  • Midground
  • Foreground
  • Floating

Tanks, equipment & care

The hardware

Everything that keeps a tank running, from the glass to the water chemistry.

  • Tanks & stands
  • Filters & pumps
  • Lighting
  • Substrate & treatment

Adventure Packs

Ready-made sets

Curated tank sets that bundle a complete setup - so a beginner can start a whole aquarium in one purchase instead of sourcing every part.

  • Serenity
  • Zen
  • Jungle
  • Marine
  • Wonderland

Community & content

The hobby layer

The reasons a shopper returns between purchases.

  • Social feed
  • Fishkeeping blog
  • Google reviews
  • Fishkeeper quiz

Merchants & services

500+ sellers

The supply side - hundreds of storefronts plus aquarium services listed alongside stock.

  • Merchant storefronts
  • Featured listings
  • Aquarium services
Three sides, one platform

Who is FishyHub built for?

A marketplace only works if every side has a surface fitted to what it actually does. FishyHub carries three - the shopper who is stocking a tank, the merchant running a storefront, and the community that keeps the hobby alive - on top of one shared catalog.

Shopper viewMerchant viewCommunity view
  • Browse 15 categories and 9 fish families
  • Match to livestock with the fishkeeping quiz
  • Buy live fish, plants, tanks and gear in one cart
  • Start fast with a ready-made Adventure Pack
  • Follow the community feed, blog and reviews
Transferable

What does a live-goods marketplace have to get right?

These came out of building FishyHub and hold well beyond aquariums - they separate a marketplace people will stock a whole hobby on from a catalog they only skim.

  1. Make many sellers feel like one shop. Hundreds of merchant storefronts have to browse as a single, coherent marketplace, or the shopper gives up and goes elsewhere.
  2. Model the goods honestly. Live fish and plants are not boxed products - handling, delivery and services all have to be part of the platform, not an afterthought.
  3. Guide the undecided. A quiz, deep categories and content do the choosing help that a raw product grid never can, especially for a hobby with a learning curve.
  4. Bundle the beginner path. Ready-made sets let a newcomer start in one purchase instead of assembling a tank part by part and getting it wrong.
  5. Give sellers a real storefront. Merchants stay when they have a branded presence and featured placement, not just a row in someone else's list.
  6. Wrap commerce in community. A feed, a blog and reviews turn a one-off checkout into a reason to keep coming back.
FAQ

Building an online marketplace like FishyHub

What founders ask us about a multi-vendor commerce and community platform.

Ask us yours
How do you build a multi-vendor marketplace?

The core shift from a single-store shop is that stock comes from many sellers, so the platform is designed around merchant storefronts, a shared catalog and per-seller ordering from day one. We model the seller, the shopper and the admin as separate surfaces over one product catalog, then layer discovery - search, categories and, in FishyHub's case, a matching quiz - on top. Getting hundreds of storefronts to browse as one coherent marketplace is the real design work.

How much does an ecommerce marketplace cost to build?

It depends on scope, and no honest number comes from a feature list alone. The heaviest drivers are the number of seller tools, whether payments and payouts are in scope, and how much discovery and community you build around the catalog. Shanti Infosoft scopes it on a short call and returns a fixed quote so you can compare a real figure.

Can a marketplace sell live or perishable goods?

Yes, and FishyHub is a good example - it sells live fish, shrimp and plants. The difference from boxed goods is in the handling: delivery, aquarium services and seller responsibilities have to be modelled explicitly rather than assumed. We scope that logistics layer carefully, because it is where a live-goods marketplace succeeds or fails.

How do you keep shoppers coming back to a store?

Commerce alone rarely builds a habit, so FishyHub wraps the shop in a community feed, a blog and reviews, plus a quiz that helps newcomers choose. Content and community give people a reason to return between purchases, which for a hobby-driven category is often what separates a marketplace that grows from one that stalls.

Is an aquarium marketplace different from any other online marketplace?

The commercial shape - many sellers, one catalog, shopper and admin surfaces, discovery and community - transfers well to other verticals. What changes per industry is the product model, the logistics, and how much guidance a buyer needs before choosing. Those are exactly the parts we tailor during scoping.

Building a marketplace of your own?

Tell us how your business actually works and we will tell you honestly what it takes to build. See more of our work or what we do.

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