The sucker prefers deep lakes and pools and fast currents. It goes to the shoreline to obtain food and shelter in the vegetation. It spawns in streams with riffles and substrates of gravel and cobble. Spawning occurs in March, April, and May. The female contains many eggs, up to 235,000, and spawns with several males. The fish spawns several times during its life. The eggs incubate on the stream bottoms for two or three weeks and the larval stage is 40 to 50 days long. The juveniles find shelter in emergent vegetation near the shore. The sucker eats a variety of animal material, including zooplankton, various other invertebrates, and periphyton.