Important Question about Housing

I dont have any amphibians nor have i ever, but this caught my eye. I was recently at a friends house and noticed the she had a terestrial Eft of a Central or Eastern Newt in a 20g tank with mollies. They didnt bother each other and were peacefull over all, but my question is this: What happens when you keep an eft in water without any land. It does have one place behind the heater where it puts its head out of the water occasionally. Please help me so I can tell my friend.

How long has she had the eft like this? And what is its behavior (i.e., does it cling to the surface, or swim about comfortably in the water)? The idea of an eft with a heater and no land disturbs me - I fear the newt may be able to live like this for some months (so she will think everything is fine and dandy), but come to a premature end.

I think for about 3-4 weeks. It mostly sat at the upper part of the tank but it didnt have its head above water. She said her brother found it in a pond on their farm, and that it was in the water.

If it was living already in the water, then it is "ready" for water, even if it still has the eft coloration (I assume it is still orange, and that's why you call it an eft??) But the temperature issue is still a bit disturbing. The pond was undoubtedly a lot colder than a molly tank.

it is more brownish than orange. I think she keeps the temp around 70.

Hmmmm... Maybe tone the heat down to 65 degrees at most but 70 isn't totally bad for it.

That temperature isn't too bad for the newt, cooler would be better, but it is a really bad temperature to keep a molly. They prefer higher, more stable temperatures. A good illustrations of why species mixing often doesn't work out so well.

If it's brownish then there is no reason to think it's an eft. It's an adult, which makes sense considering it's happily in the water.

the only efts ive ever seen were brownish, so i think a picture and more details might help