The Striped Shiner is rare in Kansas due to its restriction to a single drainage area (Spring River). Populations vary sporadically from year to year and possibly seasonally. The range of the Striped Shiner is restricted to small to medium-sized clear, weedless streams with moderate to swift current in the Osage and Arkansas River Basin that drain the Ozark Plateau. It is most often found near the margins of riffles with gravel or rubble bottoms and avoids large pools. This species spawns in late May to early July in deep riffles over clean gravel or over gravel spawning mounds created by chubs.