Can I 'promote' copepod growth in my tank?

Hello everyone!

So, I am asking this question as a last ditch ever before returning my new Mandarin Goby (Dragonette) to the LFS.....

My wife and I have really wanted one of these fish and were planning on getting one as soon as my reef tank became more established. However, I did some research on these fish, both on the internet and from people I feel I can trust, and thought that I would be ok with getting a Mandarin a bit earlier than planned, as long as it was a captive bred specimen. I read quite a bit about how these fish, as they are bred in captivity more often, have had some better success living in an aquarium because they would be more apt to eat frozen foods such as brine and mysis shrimp. So, I bought one...

What I have is a 90 gallon tank with about 140 pounds of cured live rock and 80 pounds of live sand, half of which came from a well established tank. The tank has been up and running since August 3rd, 2006. The tank currently holds:

1 Flame Angel
1 Foxface Lo
1 Kole Tang
2 Green Chromis
1 Six-line wrasse*
1 Fire Shrimp (was two until the origonal shrimp killed the other)
1 Thin bar Xenia
and the Mandarin Goby

The reason for the asteric by the six line wrasse, is because this fish also eats copepods, correct? If so, would this make it a problem as far as having two fish depend on one source of food that I cannot add easily myself?

I have seen this Mandarin eating some mysis shrimp on a couple of occassions, however, I am now being told from A LOT of people on another forum that the fish cannot live long on just the shrimp and will die without a very steady copepod source. Would this be your opinon as well?

This mandarin goby of mine also rarely, if ever, leaves once spacific rock in the tank, however it does 'climb' up the back wall of the tank every so often. From the very few times I have seen it do this, it appears as if it was chasing something and then quickly goes back to his little perch. How can I get this fish to explore other areas of the tank in search of food?

Lastly, and most importantly, is there a way for me to encourage copepod growth within my tank seeing as how it is a realatively young age? I have not found a good source of Cheato thus far, but I am looking for it everywhere in my area.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

rightnow said:

Return the Mandarin or I gurantee it will be dead in 2-3 weeks from starvation. Get rid of the wrasse and start a refugium. Or buy pods every 2 weeks on line and then you can keep the mandarin. Also soak live mysis in some Zoe, THanks

Click to expand...

Here is an update and while I am not trying to be synical or picking on rightnow, I think this advice was pretty far from the mark in general on most mandarins that are being sold today.

I have done a lot of research on this fish and right now, mine is actually doing great! I have traded the wrasse back in to the LFS, but I still am 99% sure that my copepod population is slim to none because the tank is so new. However, there are some good tips and hints out there about feeding these fish and since within the hobby, these fish are being sold more and more as tank bred species, they are becoming easier to 'train' as far as eating frozen or prepared foods. There is a great article here: http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html which is nearly the exact same article as it is published in this month's edition of tropical fish hobbyist. I used some of these tips and techniques recently and I am not scared of losing this fish to starvation at all anymore. I watch it eating all the time now and I can feed it a varied diet that it is generally open to eating any thing I put in front of it.