One of the most common freshwater fish species in Latvia and Lithuania. It resides in slow-flowing or stagnant waters – ponds, slow-flowing sections of plain rivers, in oxbows with rich aquatic vegetation. It is ecologically tolerant species, popular species in angling, an important object of industrial and amateur fishing. Tenches mainly feed on zoobenthos organisms. In Latvia specimens of this species are able to reach the age of 14 years and their weight tends to exceed 3 kg.