This is a excellent tank for beginners! The tank comes with water heater, water filter and one cartridge, lighted hood a fish net, water conditioner and detailed instructions on how to set it up. Very simple set up with everything included...except the fish! 🟠My fish were so happy to be upgraded from their 2.5 gallon tank! I would suggest buying additional filter cartridges as you will need them anyway. But, it does come with one filter cartridge for the filter. So, that will give you some time before it needs to be replaced.