How big are they? I use to put mine into tanks at around 3-4 inches when they are eating and recognizing small pellets and frozen blood worm as food (otherwise your encouraging cannibalism as they are still only recognizing live food therefore will snap at tank mates). So long as the tank is cycled you shouldn't have to do many water changes.
If your feeding something messy you could put it on a plate in the tank or remove the axolotl (using the tank water the axies are in) into a tub and feed.
As they are only small you will need a low flow filter or sponge filter, and so long as your water is cycled and suitable parametres for axolotl requirements then they should be fine.
This is just how I do it, but they are fine in a tank at any stage really, its just easiest to keep them in smaller tubs when younger for the reasons you said, cleaning and feeding.