The natural geographic range extends throughout much of North America, from central Canada south along the Rockies to Texas, and east to Virginia and the Northeastern United States.

Its golden, or xanthic, strain, known as the rosy-red minnow, is a very common feeder fish sold in the United States and Canada.

The fathead minnow in its wild form is generally dull olive-grey in appearance, with a dusky stripe extending along the back and side, and a lighter belly.

[6] Their tolerance for multiple environmental conditions, characteristics of their life history, and their popularity as bait species contribute to their widespread distribution.

[6] The fathead minnow is quite tolerant of turbid, low-oxygen water and can most commonly be found in small lakes, ponds, and wetlands.

[6] Fathead minnows are omnivores that are categorized as Benthic filter feeders, sifting through dirt and silt to find food.

[7] Ostariophysan fishes, which include fathead minnows, possess an alarm substance, or Schreckstoff, in distinctive epidermal club cells.

The alarm substance is released upon mechanical damage to these club cells due to a predator attack, and can be detected by other ostariophysan fishes which then engage in antipredator behaviors such as hiding or dashing away.

In males, tubercles occur from mid-May to early August with peak development going from June to July, at the same time as other indicators of reproductive condition.

[12] In males, epidermal thickness is significantly higher between mid July and early August, but it stays constant in females.

Juveniles display rapid growth, reaching 45–50 mm (1.8–2.0 in) total length in 90 days, and most fathead minnows die after spawning by the age of one year.

[13] Chronic exposure to EE, an artificial estrogen used in oral contraceptive pills, led to the collapse of the population due to reduced spawning in a seven-year whole-ecosystem study at the Experimental Lakes Area in Ontario, Canada.

[13] Because the fathead minnow is fairly tolerant of harsh conditions, it can be found in bodies of water that may be uninhabitable to other fish, such as waste drainage sites.

Both sexes of this strain have a rosy-golden body and fins and may express dark splotches of wild-type fathead coloration, and are sold in pet shops primarily as feeder fish.

[18] The fathead's invasive status in Europe is cited as the main cause for the spread of enteric redmouth disease among trout and eels there.

Because of its relative hardiness and large number of offspring produced, EPA guidelines outline its use for the evaluation of acute and chronic toxicity of samples or chemical species in vertebrate animals.

[22] Generally only the rosy-red variety is sold in pet shops (though very often several wild types come in with each shipment), and is summarily the most likely to be found in an aquarium.