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Did a little checking on the Emerald Shiner on spawning needs. It sounds like a really good opportunity to get smashed by predators to me.

Reproductive strategy: Pelagophils (Simon 1999). Spawning occurs at night, as fish form large schools in the surface waters over a substratum of clean sand or hard mud. The shiners first appear about 1 to 2 feet below the surface milling and darting rapidly and erratically in a circular path. The smaller males appear to pursue larger females for a few seconds at a time. As these pairs swim about in a 10 to 20 foot circle, the male overtakes the females and presses closely on either the right or the left side in what appears to be an interlocking of pectoral fins. The pair gyrates briefly, and then slows down as female arches her side upward stops for an instant, rolling over further, eggs are released and fertilized at the instant of rolling (Flittner 1964).

I looked up the common shiner as well. Sounds like they need running water and like to deposit eggs in the creek chub beds. Probably not a good candidate for pond spawning unless you have a waterfall type application.