Within the Arkansas River Basin, the Arkansas River shiner historically occupied main channels of wide, shallow, sandy bottomed rivers and larger streams, as documented by G.A. Moore in 1944. Adults prefer shallow channels where currents flow over clean fine sand and generally avoid calm waters and silted stream bottoms, as documented by L.D. Lewis and W.W. Dalquest in 1955 and confirmed by many researchers during subsequent research in the decades to follow. The species has adaptations to tolerate the adverse conditions of the drought-prone prairie streams they inhabit, including a high capacity to endure elevated temperatures and low dissolved oxygen concentrations, as documented by W.J. Matthews in 1987 and later confirmed by his further research with K.M. Polivka in 1997. 

Arkansas River shiners are a member of a reproductive guild, known as pelagic broadcast spawners, that broadcast spawns semibuoyant eggs, which are kept suspended and hatch in flowing water. This reproductive strategy appears to be an adaptation to highly variable environments where stream flows are unpredictable and suspended sediments and shifting sand can cover eggs laid in nests or crevices, noted T.H. Bonner in 2000. Without stream flow, eggs sink to the bottom where they may be covered with silt and die, as documented by S.P. Platania and C.S. Altenbach in 1998. After hatching, the fish larvae will continue to develop in the stream current. It takes approximately three to five days for eggs and larvae to develop before the larvae are capable of moving out of the main channel to seek refuge, as documented by G.A. Moore in 1944 and confirmed by S.P. Platania and C.S. Altenbach in 1998. This downstream movement during the three to five day period makes a river length of more than 130 miles essential for their successful development, noted S.P. Platania and C.S. Altenbach in 1998 and confirmed by G.R. Wilde and others in 2000 and later by J.S. Perkin and K.B. Gido a decade later. 

A natural flow regime that supports wide, shallow braided rivers, which characteristic channel complexity, and a connection to the floodplain, also is essential for attenuating downstream movement of eggs and larvae. This allows for a shorter distance to develop and seek refuge, as compared to a single-threaded and narrower channel that has higher velocities, as documented by T.A. Worthington and others in 2014. Without moderate to high flow events and maintenance of historical base flows, vegetation begins to encroach within the banks and results in a narrower river over time, as documented by N.L. Poff and others in 1997 and later confirmed by C.S. Mammoliti in 2002. As the river becomes more entrenched and narrows, habitat complexity that is typical of a wide and shallow Great Plains river is lost, and the river’s connection to its historical floodplain is diminished. An adequate combination of river length, as well as a natural flow regime and sufficient degree of channel complexity and floodplain connection, should allow the species to repopulate upstream areas that would otherwise not occur if eggs and larva are transported downstream over greater distances, noted R.K. Dudley and S.P. Platania in 1999, as well as T.H. Bond and others in 2000 and later by T.A. Worthington and others in 2014.