If anyone can get emerald or common shiners spawning in a pond, it is publishable valuable information. Pond spawning for them is not reported anywhere in the literature nor in any of my experimental stockings for emeralds or common shiners. It has been tried in various ponds. Try it for your results.
There is a pondowner in Maine that has a good chance of getting the Eastern Silvery Minnow to reproduce in his pond. Time will soon tell the rest of this story. Another option for a pond reproducing alternative minnow/shiner for those in the mid-US is the Mississippi Silvery Minnow 3"-6" max. It is a broadcast spawner that egg hatching does not require current from stream conditions.
We have seen similar questions on the forum before - and I believe it sure would be nice for a lot of our ponds to have a reproducing shiner species that is NOT a Golden Shiner.
Bill (and others),
There are multiple species of shiners in the creeks and rivers near my farm. (And I am near the geographic center of the U.S.)
Would an experiment where I try to get them to spawn in 20 or 40 gallon aquariums be valuable?
Is it easier to get (creek) fish like that to spawn in an aquarium or a pond?
If I did get a species to spawn, is there a DNA database for many of the shiners, such that we could identify the EXACT species?
P.S. If that experiment is above the pay grade of an amateur (like me), do any of our fish raisers want to try?
