The mackerel likes to gather in groups and is a glutton for food. It mainly eats animal bait, such as insects or small miscellaneous fish and shrimps. It also likes to eat blood, such as pig blood, and the pig blood flows into it. In the pond, the pond carp will grow very large, and it will also eat meat, and it will grow quickly after eating these. The scales are extremely small, round, and buried under the skin. The back and sides of the body are gray-black, with many small black spots on the whole body. There are also many black spots on the head and each fin. The spots on the dorsal fin and caudal fin membranes are arranged in a row, and there is an obvious black spot at the base of the caudal peduncle. Other fins are grayish white.

The pond mackerel has a gentle temperament and is a bottom-dwelling fish. It rarely goes to the surface of the water except to swallow air and feed. During the day, pond catfish like to gather at the bottom of the pond, caves or dark places after being full. They are active at night and go to the water in groups to hunt for food.

Pond mackerel belongs to the tropical color category and has poor low temperature tolerance. When the water temperature drops to 12℃, stop eating; when the water temperature drops to 8~10℃, frostbite and saprolegnia infection will occur; when the water temperature falls below 7℃, they will die. Therefore, during artificial overwintering, the water temperature must be kept above 13°C, and heat insulation must be used for overwintering in northern areas.