Two experiments were conducted to ascertain the utilization of different carbohydrate sources and different forms of starch present in bagrid catfish (Mystus nemurus) fry. The nutritional quality and starch forms of cornstarch, dextrin, broken rice, and sago flour were evaluated in a 4 × 2 factorial design. All diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous (400 g kg−1 crude protein) and isolipidic (150 g kg−1 crude lipid), fed to triplicate groups of bagrid catfish fry (initial weight 6.04 ± 0.04 g). Growth studies, enzymatic response and postprandial plasma glucose were observed. A two‐way anova (P > 0.05) analysis of the data obtained showed that the final body weight, specific growth rate (SGR) and food conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly affected by carbohydrate source, but not significantly affected by starch form. Fish fed broken rice and corn starch had similar SGR and FCR compared to fish fed with dextrin and sago flour. The postprandial plasma glucose trend in fish fed with corn starch and broken rice showed a gradual increase while sago flour and dextrin‐fed fish peaked at 2 and 3 h, respectively. Lipogenic enzyme (G6PDH) activity were more pronounced than gluconeogenic enzyme (ME) in M. nemurus irrespective of carbohydrate source and starch form. Therefore, we suggest that raw broken rice and corn starch are suitable carbohydrate sources in the M. nemurus diet.