It is typically found in small springs, streams, and creeks with aquatic and marginal vegetation and detritus.

The female spawns on multiple occasions between about mid-March and June, sticking the adhesive eggs to plants, gravel and the sides of rocks.

The goldstripe darter inhabits the Gulf Coastal Plain, including parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, and lower Mississippi drainages westward as far as the Colorado River Basin in Texas.

[6] Goldstripe darters do not tend to be found in rivers or streams wider than 15 feet or those with large gravel or mud substrates.

Goldstripe darters mate with multiple partners during the breeding season and do not seem to give any parental care.

[4] Thus, no current management programs are specifically designed for the goldstripe darter, though it does benefit from general riparian protection and buffers.

To spot any declines in the species in the future, periodic assessments of abundances should be conducted in small streams throughout its range.

Management plans designed to maintain and develop forested riparian zones adjacent to first-order streams would assist with its conservation.