Five live or inert food organisms (adult Artemia, Moina, Tubifex worms, clam meat, poultry egg custard) were evaluated as feed for postlarvae of Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The postlarvae (avg 5.2±0.22 mg, 7.2±0.38 mm) were reared in plastic pools (0.9 m diameter x 0.6 m) contain- ing 100 l fresh water, stocked at one postlarva per liter for 30 days, with five replicates of each treatment. There were significant differences (p<005) in final weight gains of the postlarvae (62.94-88.86 mg), final length gains (16.45-20.71 mm) and survival (69.67-92.33%). The live Moina were superior to the other foods with a significantly higher weight gain (1708.92±54.03%), length gain (287.70±4.76%) and specific growth rate (9.45±0.1%/d). The higher protein (66.16%) and n-3 HUFA (10.20%) levels in Moina may explain these results.