BettaBotanicals

09/06/2025

Leaves were never a phase, it’s a lifestyle 🍂🌿🥃 stop by booth #137 today and Sunday and grab some ecosystem materials from the booth at

09/05/2025

Stop by Booth #137 at for some habitat supplies and MONSTER FISH. Will we see you tomorrow at 👀🍂
•
Big thank you to GFC for being an amazing retail partner over the last years. Big shoutout to who is competing in the scape comp this weekend too!

09/02/2025

Better resources. Better Guides. Better FAQs. Beh-ttah Botanicals just got a brand new website with an all-encompassing guide to The Botanical Method Aquarium. Check it out, and let minnow if it sparks any ideas, questions, or A-HA moments!

From filter modifications to embracing biofilms. Our guide teaches you the foundation and maintenance of a successful botanical method aquarium.

08/07/2025

New shades of tint and texture for your South American Botanical Method Aquariums. For low tint tanninbaes we have a new Colombian sourced Cacao, and for the dark water fiends we have Colombian sourced mango and casho. These NEW botanicals will fit right at home in your leaf litter beds. A big thank you to for providing photography for these new Fresh from the Forest botanicals.
•
📩 Resources in my Newsletter 📩
•

07/22/2025

Love to see a wall of botanicals! Endless possibilities and natural environments to recreate.

We got an order of in! Stop by to load up on pods, leaf litter, and other botanicals. We are open until 7pm today 🍂

07/21/2025

Leave the leaves be and those leaves left will impart the most benefits to your ecosystem. 🍂🌿
•
I recommend leaving the leaves to help sustain the ecosystem being cultivated. When it’s time to replenish the leaves, simply add more on top of the old — this is what would naturally occur in nature. If you chose to take them out, that’s alright! Simply siphon a few out or grab them with your hand, but don’t take out too many…. That’s someone’s food!
•
📩 Resources In Our Newsletter 📩
•

06/17/2025

I thought this fish had died 💀 About 6 months ago I took a trip down to with to invest in some species I’d never kept before, and I knew these Toothpick Fish would be elusive….but I’ve had exactly three sightings in 6 months, two of which are yesterday and today. I think they hunt the cherry shrimp fry, feasting on the brine shrimp and other microfauna I occasionally add to the tank. Special guest appearance of the rocket killifish baby who is definitely male, and the first oow tadpole of the R. Imitator Veradaro 🍂🥃🌱🪾
•
📩 Resources In Our Newsletter 📩
•

05/26/2025

It was truly an honor to provide natural materials for these aquascapes! A big congrats to all the participants, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in person at Aquashella Aquarium Festival New Jersey and Los Angeles later this year! 🍂

05/21/2025

Fresh From The Forest 🍂🥃🍁🪾🪵 tomorrow 5.21 @ 9 AM PST there will be four NEW natural botanicals for your current and future botanical method aquariums.
•
Ichnocarpus Bark: textured, durable & full of amber tannins
•
Ceylon Date Flower Stalk: intricate habitat for your fish to swim through
•
Ulin Pods: your favorite betta’s new favorite cave
•
Mulberry Leaves: okay, not NEW, but we brought them back for our shrimp enthusiasts. Full of vitamins and minerals for healthier molts.
•
📩 Resources In Our Newsletter 📩
•

05/16/2025

If you need me I’m just playing with grass in the garage 🍂🌿🥃 The Clown Killi baby has grown so much from a spec to a rice grain, constantly exploring the grass and hunting the microfauna which are eating the grass. I’ve got them in a Foresta to mimic allochthonous inputs of organic materials from the terrestrial ecosystem above. Just like in nature.
•
al·loch·tho·nous /əˈläkTHənəs/
adjective
1.Geology (of a deposit or formation) having originated at a distance from its present position.
2. Biology: introduced from a different environment, habitat, or geographical area. “allochthonous microorganisms may easily be outcompeted on arrival in natural to new ecosystems”
•
🚀 Free USA Shipping on select orders $35+ 🚀
•
📩 Resources In Our Newsletter 📩
•

05/07/2025

If you find a big ole pile of leaves and pods at one of the tables near the Aquascaping Competition at there is a 100% chance it’ll be us 👀 I may not physically be at the table, but there will be some info cards and static clings to pickup as you wish! will be doing his best to recreate this layout (I’m sure it’ll be better still!) and Saturday you can meet one of our Ambassadors at the booth (DM her to meet) and she’ll tell you all about the episode of Nat Geo happening in her latest ecosystem. It’s truly an honor to sponsor materials for this year in their Aquascape Competition by …time to go finish packing the box so Ryan can soak everything in his hotel room! 🍂🥃
•
🚀 Free USA Shipping on select orders $35+ 🚀
•
📩 Resources In Our Newsletter 📩
•

05/01/2025

I broke the “rules”… carefully 🍂
•
After years of using Casuarina cones in my botanical method aquariums—to the delight of my shrimp and microfauna, I kept wondering: What about the needles?
•
While many forums warn against using pine, cypress, or cedar in the aquarium, I decided to cautiously investigate further. I sourced naturally fallen, dried Casuarina equisetifolia needles and began testing… slowly and intentionally, and with ecosystem health in mind. I even shared them with trusted ambassadors for broader insight with their critters.
•
The results? Thriving ecosystems. No weird plant melt. No mystery spikes. Just layers of intricate woven needles on the substrate, crawling in microfauna, and a better replication of nature.
•
Here’s what I’ve learned; Many “rules” in this hobby are rooted back to over a decade where one person had a bad experience and then it perpetuated—never revisited. But, with proper sourcing, preparation, and a gradual introduction, these needles function just like any other botanical material.
•
🛒 Casuarina Needles are now available on the site. Sprinkle them into your substrate like you would with leaf litter and let nature do the rest.
•