Additionally, brassy minnows have a small subterminal mouth with a crescent shaped lower jaw, and their caudal (tail) fins are notched.

[3] The brassy minnow typically lives in cool, slow moving streams[7] and creeks that have sand, mud or gravel bottoms overlaid with organic sediment.

[4] They are also found in overflow ponds near rivers, boggy lakes, brackish tidal waters, and ditches with weedy bottoms.

[5] Hybognathus hankinsoni are omnivorous eating algae, plankton and aquatic invertebrates[4] that live in the organic sediment or the weeds that grow in their environment.

Although omnivorous, the brassy minnow is typically vegetarian, mainly eating the algae, especially diatoms and desmids, found growing in the streams and ponds it inhabits.

The spawning time occurs when the water temperature reaches sixteen to seventeen degrees Celsius.