I bet Silver Shiners are much more affordable the Golden Shiners!
I asked some questions on Pond Boss in the past about adding several of the local species of small forage fish from my creek into my ponds. A few of our experts responded and said that some "creek species" do fine in ponds and some do not thrive at all. I think silver shiners may be a big lake/big river species.
However, I believe the biggest consensus was that for lesser known species, you just have to try them in YOUR pond. I don't expect they could cause any problems but I have zero expertise.
I think a few people have tried the somewhat similar emerald shiners in their ponds? I believe emeralds like to school up near the surface in the open water portions of the pond. If you don't have any shad in the ponds, maybe they could go into that niche?
I can't remember, do you have some HSB stocked in your ponds? The HSB when they are smaller might really like the silver shiners in a pond and show some rapid initial growth.
(All of the above commentary is mere speculation on my part. Hopefully some of the experts can give you some real advice!)
P.S. Do you have any forage or grow out ponds? Maybe you could throw a few hundred in there now, and see how they reproduce going forward. If they do well, then maybe move a few thousand into your fishing ponds?
