Haematopoiesis and blood cells'functions can be in£uenced by dietary concentration of nutrients. This paper studied the e¡ects of dietary protein:energy ratio on the growth and haematology of pacu, Piaractus mesopotamicus. Fingerling pacu (15.5 AE 0.4 g) were fed twice a day for 10 weeks until apparent saciety with diets containing 220, 260, 300, 340 or 380 g kg À 1 crude protein (CP) and 10. 88, 11.72, 12.55, 13.39, 14.22 MJ kg À 1 digestible energy (DE) in a totally randomized experimental design, 5  5 factorial scheme (n 5 3). Weight gain and speci¢c growth rate were a¡ected (Po0.05) by protein level only. Protein e⁄ciency ratio decreased (Po0.05) with increasing dietary protein at all levels of dietary energy. Daily feed intake decreased (Po0.05) with increasing dietary energy. Mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration was a¡ected (Po0.05) by DE and interaction between dietary CP and DE. Total plasma protein increased (Po0.05) with dietary protein and energy levels. Plasma glucose decreased (Po0.05) with increasing dietary protein. The CP requirement and optimum protein:energy ratio for weight gain of pacu ¢ngerlings, determined using broken-line model, were 271g kg À 1 and 22.18 g CP MJ À 1 DE respectively. All dietary CP and DE levels studied did not pose damages to ¢sh health. r 2008 Blackwell Munksgaard 486 No claim to original US government works Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 486^495 Growth and haematology of pacu A Ł J deAlmeida Bicudo et al. r 2008 Blackwell Munksgaard No claim to original US government works, Aquaculture Research, 40, 486^495 à Haematocrit. wTotal red blood cell count. zHaemoglobin. ‰Mean corpuscular volume. zMean corpuscular haemoglobin. kMean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration. Ãà Total plasma protein. wwPlasma glucose. zzPlasma triglycerides. ‰‰Pooled means without di¡erentiation of dietary DE. zzPooled means without di¡erentiation of dietary CP. Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 486^495 Growth and haematology of pacu A Ł J deAlmeida Bicudo et al. r 2008 Blackwell Munksgaard No claim to original US government works, Aquaculture Research, 40, 486^495 Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 486^495 Growth and haematology of pacu A Ł J deAlmeida Bicudo et al. r 2008 Blackwell Munksgaard No claim to original US government works, Aquaculture Research, 40, 486^495