Hey all, those of you wanting to raise Red shiner, I have some advice for ya... If the young don't show up the first full summer, don't panic just yet. I have a 3rd pond that had some fhm in that I stocked about 100-110 Reds in around mid summer 2020 at a friends place and just like with my forage pond, it showed nothing last summer. We ran some traps the last 2 days and his pond is FULL of 2" reds. Don't give up on them early.

Thanks for the update on your experiment.

VERY helpful information!

Good info and update. Are you doing anything special for their spawning success?

This is great. What are your thoughts about FHM & RSH together in a forage pond? Do you see any less FHM when the RSH take off? Even if so, production is usually increased by combinations. RSH like mid-water/pelagic habitat whilst the FHM prefer bottom habitats. So this should exploit more of a ponds niche habitat than a single species treatment.

I have reds in 2 ponds, one has grass and river bulrush, the other has 3/4" gravel basin. FHM, BNM and reds all survive together.
I see the Reds spawning up on the gravel pretty often once water hits 70. I haven't been able to actually observe them in earthen shores/bulrush/grass as far as spawning goes.
The only time I see them in schools is when they are new fry or a super calm evening they will be in groups near the surface.