Water Features: Rainbow Dace

The Situation: We have a small pond (I don't know dimensions - maybe three feet wide, roughly circular, and two feet deep? ish?) with some plants. We're looking for cheap, readily-replaceable, reasonably pretty fish (we have a lot of outdoor kitties, and annual floods, and dogs that fall in, and....) that can withstand the outdoor life.

Rainbow Dace:

• Cyprinella lutrensis, formerly Notropis lutrensis
• a.k.a. Red shiner, rainbow dace, horse-head minnow, red horse minnow or shiner, rosysided dace, Asian fire barb, African fire barb, redfin giant danio, {blue dace}*, shiner
  *Blue dace and red/rainbow dace are NOT the same - in fact, rainbow dace are hybridizing with blue dace
  
• "cool water fish" (prefer 60 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit)
• freshwater fish
• very invasive, may threaten native species if released
  (native to TX, so no issues there)
• "Predominantly a denizen of creeks and small rivers, it is adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions, including seasonal intermittent flows, degraded habitats, poor water quality, and natural physiochemical extremes" (3)
• Reproduce prolifically in crevices or on rocks or leaves, but tend to eat a lot of the fry
• Do well in cold temperatures
  (again, probably not going to be a problem but good to know!)

Sources

1. Robyn's Red Shiner Page
2. NAS Species FactSheet
3. Shiner Research
4. Cyprinella lutrensis - Red Shiners, Rainbow Dace
5. "Feeder Fish Day"
   

Notes:

• "Rosey Red minnows" mentioned as also being great mosquito control, cheap, and possibly easier to find (5)