Review : LEGO 5009823 Fish Tank Filter & Fish Food

Today we'll take a quick look at the contents of the LEGO promotional set. 5009823 Fish Tank Filter & Fish Food, a small box of 177 pieces which will be offered to members of the LEGO Insiders program on the official online store from November 13 to 19, 2025 for the purchase of the LEGO ICONS set 10366 Tropical Aquarium (449,99 €).

As you probably already know if you've been following along, the contents of this little set are meant to "enhance" the aquarium by adding a filter to be installed outside the structure, inside which you'll find a fish that seems to have wandered in. The whole thing comes with a small box of fish food. It's hard to criticize the product's design; it does indeed resemble some aquarium filter models, and the construction isn't out of place.

Even better, the model is designed to sit on the frame of the €450 faux aquarium, thus reinforcing the lifestyle "illusion" so touted by influencers of all stripes by perfecting the object's look. Why not, even if it seems obvious that LEGO has once again extracted content from the main set to artificially create a promotional product intended to entice hesitant customers at launch.

However, I don't think that if the filter had been supplied with the aquarium from the start, it would have changed much in terms of perception: the aquarium is too expensive in any case, and I personally find it totally outdated and a failure in some respects, with or without a filter.

The lifestyle approach is, in my opinion, superfluous here, and a simple aquatic diorama without all the trappings of the frame and filter around it would have been far more convincing, in addition to being a reproduction of animals in their natural element and not in the living room of John and Brenda, who are only too happy not to have to feed or watch these plastic fish die.

For those worried about the appearance of a fish that ended up in the filter and is therefore doomed to float on its back in the bowl, rest assured that you can remove it from the structure and place it directly in the aquarium. Phew, problem solved! The small box of fish food is rather pointless; its only redeeming feature is the printed design on the front of the packaging. You can still play at feeding your plastic fish, but don't overdo it.

In short, if you've already fallen for the aquarium and are eagerly awaiting November 13th, this filter will undoubtedly seem essential, and you'll happily spend your €450 at LEGO to get the "complete" set. Otherwise, you can save your money and spend it on another set without regretting not having gotten this 177-piece filter.

You'll also have the satisfaction of having avoided that somewhat underhanded tactic of offering DLC ​​separately for a limited time, forcing you to buy it at full price. That is, until the tactic is applied to a product you actually want, which will inevitably happen one day.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at November 19, 2025 at 23:59 p.m. Simply post a comment below the article to participate.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.