It inhabits slow to moderately flowing waters and with substrates that are predominantly mud, silt, or sand.

Major food sources include chironomids, copepods, and cladocerans, as well as mayflies in the spring.

[3][6] The eggs are attached to submerged vegetation, leaves, or twigs, and the adults do not guard them as some other members of this family do.

[3][2] Suitable habitats include pools of slow-flowing water in small streams, backwaters of larger rivers, turbid water over sand or mud, oxbow lakes, swamps, and among vegetation.

[1] The IUCN has listed this species as being of "Least Concern", because it has an extensive range in the Mississippi River system, has a large total population size, and numerous subpopulations.