Red shiners are habitat generalists and favour a wide range of environmental conditions that most other fish species cannot tolerate. Spawning season of C. lutrensis is from spring to fall and the peak is during the mid-summer months. Crevice spawner similar to the other Cyprinella species. Females may release up to 16 batches of eggs per day, with up to 71 eggs per batch. An average clutch size may equal around 585 eggs and males and females may spawn 5-19 clutches over the reproductive season (Gale, 1986). Laser and Carlander (1971) reported that 485-684 eggs were laid per gravid female.
Red shiner is a faster swimmer than the FHM and might not tolerate bass predation very well. But probably a very good forage species for YP and WE.
Red shiner like mid-depth and open water for foraging and I absolutely love this prey fish for the region you specify. Except for the Oachiatas and Ozarks this minnow is ubiquitous everywhere else in the region. They are fractional spawners that will produce a reproducing generation. By that I mean that the April offspring will be breeding in August. Like GSH they will utilize lepomis and LMB nest sites for spawning. They prefer crevises but hey these guys also use timber, brush, and weeds for spawning substrate. I can't recall where I read it but one reference remarked how without some dark time, aquarium red shiner bred themselves to death under 24 hours of light.
Minnows like red shiner and Gambusia have one great advantage over FHM under conditions where their adult predators are present. The are highly likely to produce fry before they are extirpated. With FHM, probably very few. Eggs will not hatch without the care of the male and once the sitting duck nest defending males are eaten, there will be no more production of fry whatsoever even if there were millions of eggs still carried by females. This is an area of research that would be of great interest to me, that is, what range of forage production (beyond the initial weight) of various timely introductions of minnows can be expected.
