New tank for newts

[Shouto]

Hey! I just set up a new tank for my three firebellies and I was hoping to get some feed back on it. Its a twenty gallon long with gravel, vines in the middle&right side, and driftwood in the water. In their old tank the newts would all sit huddled up in one spot together. I set up this tank last night and now one is on the far right on the glass, one is in the middle in the water/vines and the third found a 'cave' in the driftwood. Does this mean that their more comfortable? When I put them in the tank I put them on a turtle dock that they would never leave in the old tank but now none of them are on it. Also is it possible for dry drift wood to splinter?

 

[Asevernnnn]

If they're refusing the water they're obviously still stressed from bad petshop care and being wild caught and imported.

As for the tank, there are a few problems with it, gravel, especially with that big slope, will trap a lot of waste which can foul your water very quickly if any uneaten food or waste material gets in it, and in addition to that, it can also be swallowed. Sand, bare-bottom, or a siliconed substrate would be ideal, bare-bottom requiring the least amount of work overall.

An unstressed newt thats acting normally, for this specie, is generally fully aquatic and rarely ever leaves the water. A tank for this specie is pretty simple, just filled nearly to the top, with maybe a few pieces of floating cork bark, with a water temp of 73F or lower, and a ton of live plants, and maybe some hides.

If the newts are refusing water, something you could try to do it putting it in a tub(escape-proof with small holes in the lid for ventilation), with a little bit of water and a bunch of live plants, so that they stay wet without being completely underwater. Often this will get the newt used to the water until its ready to go aquatic.

Since you got newts from a petshop(I'm assuming), you probably aren't feeding a proper staple diet either. The staple diet for basically any caudates should consist of chopped or small whole earthworm/nightcrawler or a high quality pellet, though I would advise against the pellets with a gravel substrate, and you can feed frozen foods and other live foods as a treat.

And heres the caresheet for H. orientalis if you haven't seen it already:
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Cynops orientalis - Chinese firebelly

 

[Chinadog]

The tank you have is a good size, but Aaron's right, it does need a few changes.
The simplest set up for fire bellies would be to remove the gravel and fill the tank almost to the top, add a small piece of floating cork bark or turtle dock, then cram in as many live aquatic plants as you can. It doesn't matter what kind of plants, but Elodea (pond weed) or Hydracotile are good choices because they are fast growers and will remove a lot of waste products from the water.
Ideally, there should be enough plants to form a floating mat at the surface that the newts can walk over. This is important because newts that are refusing to go in the water often have lost their tail fins and become adapted to life on land. They are poor swimmers and could even drown without the plants to hang on to at the surface
Hopefully as they will de-stress and adapt to captivity, their tail fins will re grow and they will become much better swimmers.
It would be a good idea to pick up some test kits for ammonia and nitrite from the petstore to keep an eye on water quality. The plants will help, but you will have to do regular partial water changes until the tank cycles.
Hope this helps..