A hand moving around Texas Live Oak leaf litter in a botanical method aquarium home to albimarginata and ember tetras.

Beginner Blackwater Botanical Variety Packs for both Aquariums & Vivariums

The amount of biodiversity inside an aquarium, or body of water, is usually an indicator of a balanced and healthy ecosystem with an abundance of food sources, oxygen-producing plants, and microfauna. You can see a variety of plants, animals, and microorganisms coexisting in their environment. Botanical Variety Packs help us to accomplish this by mimicking natural environments and fostering biodiversity by providing a layer of the food web not normally present in aquariums — botanicals. You wouldn’t only see one type of leaf, seed pod, or twig in a creek bed, right? Variety packs are a great choice for beginner and experienced blackwater aquarists! If you’re new to the use of botanicals, our variety packs allow you to get to know the botanicals up close, helping you learn the type of look and function you want in your botanical method aquarium. 

A betta hendra inside of a sterculia pod in a 20 gallon blackwater aquarium.

Tint, Acid, and Antioxidant Benefits of Botanical Variety Packs

Betta Botanicals began with botanical starter packs before realizing that these collections of botanicals could be so much more. Today, Betta Botanicals is proud to offer a wide selection of Botanical Variety Packs for you to choose from. Why the name change? We think that regardless of your experience in the aquarium hobby, a variety pack is a great addition to your aquarium. Not just for starters! Whether you are exploring a specific botanical or ecosystem or trying botanicals for the first time, we have something for you! Get to know some of our variety packs below and learn which one is right for you!

#TanninBae Beginner Botanical Variety Pack

The #TanninBae Botanical Variety Pack is the first botanical variety pack we developed! Filled with hand-collected oak leaves, twigs, and alder cones, as well as tropical Indian almond & catappa leaves, this pack is a great way to dip your toes into the world of botanical method aquariums. We label it so because these materials are relatively tame when it comes to the development of biofilms, which can be very off-putting to new botanical aquarists.

We named it after a viral TikTok where we dropped Live Oak Leaf Litter into the aquarium in the same way "salt bae" sprinkles salt onto food. The #TanninBae starter pack is perfect for bettas, blackwater fish, and even goldfish! These botanicals are hand-selected for their durable nature and high tannin content. Start using only a few botanicals at a time to see the changes evolve in your aquarium, and maybe you will see a new layer of your ecosystem develop. Our guide on aquatic botanical preparation is full of tips and tricks!

Buy the #TanninBae Botanical Variety Pack

The #TanninBae aquarium botanical variety pack with magnolia leaves, oak leaves, oak twigs, alder cones, and indian almond leaves.

Betta Botanicals Variety Pack

A tried-and-true classic; we just had to put our name on it! This is the second botanical variety pack we created, and it goes beyond indian almond leaves and alder cones. This variety pack is a thoughtfully curated mix of exotic botanicals from around the globe to add to your botanical method or blackwater aquarium. The Betta Botanicals Variety Pack is a great intermediate pack with materials sure to hook you on botanical method aquariums! Our shrimp love these materials, too, as they grow abundant supplemental nutrition sources like biofilms, bacteria, and fungi. We call this an intermediate botanical variety pack because the biofilms these botanicals grow can be quite abundant, and will either have you ooo-ing and ahhh-ing, or running for the hills over the aquatic hyphomycetes they grow! At Betta Botanicals, we love this pack for its ability to create the perfect tropical stream ecosystem, and the biofilms are the perfect food for plecos, otocinclus, snails, and shrimp.

Buy the Betta Botanicals Variety Pack

The Betta Botanicals Variety Pack with guava leaves, jackfruit leaves, mahogany pods, lagerstroemia pods, coconut husks, sappan wood pods, catappa bark, and a jungle pod.

Everglades Botanical Variety Pack

Most fish and referenced environments are found overseas, in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa, or in the southern hemisphere in South America. The Everglades Botanical Variety Pack is different, existing as an homage to a tropical North American biotope. The Florida Everglades is a unique and sensitive ecosystem, home to 16 endangered species, while also providing drinking water for over 7 million people! While the park is inundated with invasive species, other species found there are found nowhere else on Earth! Many of the botanicals sent by our suppliers are found just outside the Everglades, giving you the opportunity to explore this ecosystem up close. This is a leaf litter-heavy pack, with a refresh to its items scheduled for Fall of 2025 (including... cypress!)

Releasing Fall of 2025 — the Everglades Botanical Variety Pack

"Blackwater" Botanicals Variety Pack

The Blackwater Botanical Variety Pack was our 4th variety pack released, designed to tint your aquarium with rich red and brown tannins using the power of catappa bark and coconut husk. Top that off with bamboo leaves which GLOW in the dark water! However, after three additional years of building Betta Botanicals, we pulled this from our collection as it just wasn't right. Over the duration of 2025, we have been testing a new blend that contains Macarange Leaves, Terentang Leaves, and a few others — still containing coconut husk and bamboo. Based on our findings, it creates a much more authentic replication of a blackwater environment. The Blackwater botanicals variety pack is a great choice for aquarists looking to branch out. We put the words Blackwater in quotes because this provides the aesthetic, but not the chemical properties of true blackwater environments. Blackwater aquariums are similar to botanical method aquariums with their tannin-stained water; however, they aim for specific water chemistry. A blackwater ecosystem is a perfect fit for a betta fish aquarium, as the tannins and low pH provide antibacterial and antifungal benefits for your fish. 

Releasing Fall of 2025 — the Blackwater Botanicals Variety Pack

The Best Botanical Variety Pack Out There?!

Botanical variety packs are great for both beginner and experienced aquarists! Each unique variety pack allows you to create and explore diverse ecosystems in your home aquarium. Betta Botanicals is proud to curate each pack by hand for the best quality botanicals from the forests to you. Our botanical variety packs are guaranteed to provide rich tannins and are the perfect detailed additions to any aquatic ecosystem. Have you decided which pack is right for your aquarium? Explore all of our botanical variety packs at Betta Botanicals! If botanical variety packs aren’t for you, don’t worry! We also carry bulk aquarium botanicals for sale, including indian almond leaves, sterculia pods, Sapucaia King Pods, and more! From concept to completed tank, Betta Botanicals is here every step of the way to help you develop the best possible botanical method and blackwater aquariums. Happy fishkeeping!

Written by Clare Mangan, @The.Grumpy.Betta, with edits by #TanninBae