Softshell turtle?

[Nerine]

Anyone here have any experience with them? I have sand in the tank right now, but it's horrid....it's very fine sand. Was wondering if I should go to a dirt mix? riverbottom type of tank....
he's getting very large and the sand is a real pain to clean...I know dirt will be too, but it's softer (right? LOL) and won't compress as much? or maybe a different type of sand? he likes to be under the sand so I don't really ahve to worry about it building up gasses as he moves the entire tank daily...

[Fishnut]

YOU HAVE ONE?!!!!! When/Where did you get it?!

I had one for years!!  Unfortunately, extremely fine sand is needed.  You know the soft sand that Zoo Med sells for desert tanks? That's what the texture should feel like.

I made the mistake of giving mine a bare tank and it wasn't too happy.  I was also always wiping slime off it's shell that I think would have been scrubbed off by the sand. 

There's little point to having a mixed substrate IMO.  It'll just look more messy.  If you find perfectly smooth rocks to put in the tank, that won't be too bad, but only a few.  You don't want ANYTHING to damage the shell because that's where bacteria gets in.

Mine scratched himself badly on the filter because it was bored with nothing to dig in.  Bacteria took him out .

Give it a good variety of foods...pellets of different kinds, crickets, fish (like deformed guppies and shrimp from the grocery store).  Mine LOVED chasing crickets that were swimming around the surface of the tank.  Gut load the crickets though.

They're my favourite turtle!!!

[Nerine]

yeah he's a cutie He actually belongs to Corey, but while she's at school, I'm the caretaker!
he has the zoomed sand, but it's sooo fine that it clouds the water up so easily LOL but at least there's no worry with it being impacted because he routinely changes up the tank!! Lots of plants and he enjoys fish and crickets and worms! Has a dock too to stay out of the water if he wants. He's in a 30 right now, but will need a bigger tank really soon, I figure a 75 will be fine for a little bit, as the 30 is too small already! I need to find out what species as some get quite large! LOL

I will post some photos