along with your list you will need a substrate of some sort (gravel or sand), some decorations(to make it look nice and for hiding spots for your fish), a siphon, and some water test strips (not required but a good idea so you know when you tank has cycled).

The cost depends mostly on what type of fish you want to keep and how big of a tank you want. A filter and heater for a 30 gallon tank is going to cost more than a filter and a heater for a 10 gallon tank. By the way yes you will need a heater for 95% of any fish that you are going to buy at the store.

How to cycle a tank…….read this article. It will take a few minutes to read but you aren’t going to be able to understand the cycling process in much shorter of a time than it will take to read this………http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/

It describes well how to cycle a new tank but not really exactly what is happening so I will explain……Your fish give off waste which causes ammonia to build up in their water. Ammonia is very toxic to fish but so you have to let a special type of bacteria colonize in your tank (mostly on your filter media) that "eats" ammonia and then lets out nitrite. Then you have a ton of nitrite in your water which is also very toxic to fish. For this there is another type of bacteria that will colonize in your tank that "eats" nitrite and then lets out nitrate which is virtually non toxic to fish at lower levels. Lower levels being the key here, that is why doing weekly water changes of about 25% is important to take out a portion of the nitrate and replace it with fresh, clean water. So cycling is where the water test strips come in handy. You will know that you tank is fully cycled when your ammonia and your nitrite reading are both 0 and you have some nitrate.

Cleaning a tank it not hard…..all you have to do it siphon out the gravel each week during your 25% water change. If there is algae on your glass you can just get a sponge and wipe it off. That’s it. Over cleaning your tank will kill all the good bacteria and crash your cycle.

PS look on your local craigslist for a cheap tank. Often they are sold by people who just want to get rid of it for very cheap and with filters, heaters, and everything else you need to get going

The bigger the tank the easier it is to keep
The fewer the fish the easier it is to keep

just made a google search and came across some helpful articles on ehow apart from the people above i am sure this will help you too

ehow.com/fish-and-fish-ponds/