The effects of three diets (decapsulated Artemia, live Daphnia spp., and commercial starter diet) on the growth and survival of Clarias gariepinus larvae were investigated in the laboratory for seven days using a completely randomized block design. Larvae were hatched by the hypophysation technique and, immediately after resorption of the yolk sac, randomly distributed into nine tanks at a stocking rate of 180 larvae per experimental plastic tank. Triplicate groups were fed treatment diets ad libitum twice daily, in the morning and in the evening. The highest growth values were obtained in larvae fed decapsulated Artemia (p<0.05), while the survival rate was similar in fish fed decapsulated Artemia and live daphnia. It is concluded that feeds of animal origin are more suitable for first feeding of C. gariepinus larvae than inert diets