Rainbow Shiners in the wildlife pond after 2 winters

This pond is maximum depth maybe 25cm and situated in the heart of England and yet these "tropical" fish are thriving for the third year. We had weeks of frost and snow this winter and the pond froze over for probably around a month. The weirdest thing is that one day in winter I came into the garden to discover the shiners flapping around on a thin layer of water ABOVE the ice!
Obviously the cold can't bother them that much!

[@KoiRun50]

Interesting.

[@Qihte]

This is dope. Have u had luck breeding them? gonna throw some in my wildlife pond this summer

[@elgringo1893]

I've seen them showing spawning behaviour constantly throughout may-june time but as far as I know there are no juveniles in there, unless the dragonfly larvae are eating them

[@jamesholbrook7785]

Love those shiners.

[@joefishgofish9940]

If you’re willing to catch them wild, look for Saffron Shiners. Spectacular native fish living along side the Rainbows.

[@jamesholbrook7785]

@@joefishgofish9940 most definitely on my bucket list. Hang with Tennessee Shiners as well.

[@jamesholbrook7785]

I live about 80 miles north of where they originated. I am wanting to get some from the wild and breed with tank bred.

[@elgringo1893]

Great idea. These ones are tank bred and unfortunately as far as I can tell haven't been spawning in my pond. I have a feeling that you would need large numbers to get results with them.

[@jamesholbrook7785]

@@elgringo1893 you said these fish have survived two winters in England, even iced over.
Just out of curiosity, how old do you think they are?
Reason I ask is because many tell me they don’t live much past 18 months.
That’s not proving true to what I see.
I’m guessing several live well past two years old.

[@elgringo1893]

@@jamesholbrook7785 they have to, I first put these in in June 2019 and they haven't grown much since and the males were already fully coloured. Guessing they are now 2 and a half years old maybe

[@jamesholbrook7785]

@@elgringo1893 thank you so much for your information.

[@elgringo1893]

Out of the 6 males that went into the pond, 4 are definitely still going, hard to say how many females there are though as they are tricky to spot. I only know that there are 4 males as I have seen 4 grouped together at one time a week or so back.
They don't seem bothered by the cold and even under a layer of ice in the winter they were still swimming about actively beneath foraging for food.