The presence of deep pools and dense riparian stands of Palmiet (Prionium serratum, a Thurniaceae) that provide shadow will aid its survival if its home rivers run dry in hot summers.

During that time, adults repeatedly move in small groups into shallow riffles where the water is only a few decimetres deep, and deposit their non-sticky eggs there.

Though it is still found across a wide area and is plentiful in some places, the bass will eat young Clanwilliam yellowfish and thus easily lower their stocks to local extinction.

[1] It is also listed as Endangered by the Western Cape Province Nature Conservation Ordinance, making it illegal to kill it, and to catch it except for supervised translocation and research projects.

In that region, the rare Twee River redfin (Pseudobarbus erubescens) had managed to survive; it was subsequently outcompeted by L. seeberi and disappeared from some of its remaining range, bringing it to the brink of extinction.

The National Yellowfish Working Group was established in 1997 to follow up on the research station's program and to educate the public about the species, which may become of local or even commercial significance as food again if its stocks recover.