Paddle Tail Newt

I have been looking at getting these but how do you keep the water cool enough and what do they eat? Also what is a good but affordable filter system.

Well, if you don't add a heater, the water will be room temperature. I guess it depends how hot your house gets. I don't know enough about their care, but any fish filter would work fine.

Thats the million dollar question. I've kept Cynops orientalis multiple times in the past which require low temps as well.

Obviously the best thing to do would be to get yourself an aquarium chiller. They work really well (i like the JBJ brand chillers) however, they're gonna set you back about 250-300 bucks for a brand new one. Now, you could always get a used one, but i had one on my reef tank that ran for about a year and then pooped out on me. I dont think they work extremely well with constant use over a long time period.

Another option is to have a large tank with a relatively large amount of water (appropriate level for the newts of course) with little to no heat output from lighting fixtures and filters. Most filters will give off a fair amount of heat and flourescent tube bulbs over a glass tank with a glass top always had the ability to turn my beautiful newt tanks into an 80 degree **** hole....not so good for the poor newts.

Screen tops help dissipate the heat as well as low wattage bulbs if you use lighting. Ice packs work somewhat if it's a really hot day and you need a quick fix for high temps but they melt fast and have to be replaced constantly throughout the day.