Stressed?

I recently bought my first axie, hes quite young, and hes 2-3 inches long. today (my third day of having him) i noticed occasionally he'd walk over to the side of his tank and swim against it. now i've heard this can be a sign of stress. i think this could be because of the filter. i'm using a 27 litre tank, which the pet shop salesman told me would be fine for one axie, which i have recently learned is false, at least for bigger ones. my small one should be ok for now until i replace it when it gets bigger. the filter im using is an eheim pickup 45. in relation to the tank i think this is quite big, and at least on the top of the water its creating noticeable ripples, despite being on the lower setting. would i be better off removing it and doing daily water changes until i buy a bigger tank?

If the filter is causing too much current in the water, it can indeed be stressing your axolotl.

I think you would be better off removing it and doing small water changes daily.

I've never tried this, but if you do some reading on this sight you'll read a lot about using spray bars to reduce the turbulence caused by filters. They are very inexpensive and easily made. I'm not sure, perhaps your filter is to strong for this to be effective, but I'd suggest trying it.