In all my years of raising and keeping newts I've got way better experience with wild caught Gammarus (scuds), Daphnia, Asselus (waterlouse) and other crusteceans than the ones bought in a pet shop. I never had mass fallout with WC food, while I had problems with blood worms from the shop. I must say that I catch most WC food out of my own pond, so it's not really that wild caught...When it comes to feeding aquatic animals I love bought tubifex after I rinsed it myself.
I can recommend a pond. It doesn't have to be that big. Mine is only 2x2 meters. Make sure it's in good balance though. You really don't need a UV-filter for this. I only use a small filter pump. You can use the pond water, if it's quality is good, for your setups as well. You'll be rewarded with a setup which is running immediately. This year I've managed to raise L.laoensis in my pond water, and I've used it with succes for Paramesotriton, Triturus, Tylototriton, Lissotriton and Cynops species as well.
If you have the space you should really think about one. You have to check the pond water setups constantly for developing beetle and dragonfly larvae though, because they can be really small at first. Within a short time you can suddenly find a large aquatic monster feeding on your larvae which was hiding between the moss while it was smaller.