Pond-raised fingerling goldfish ( Carassius auratus), golden shiners ( Notemigonus crysoleucas) and fathead minnows ( Pimephales promelas) were analyzed for whole-body amino acid composition. All three species had similar amino acid patterns in whole-body tissue. These compositional data were also used to compute essential amino acid ratios ( A E ratios) which were compared with the quantified amino acid requirements of another cyprinid species, the common carp ( Cyprinus carpio). The whole-body A E ratios of the three baitfish species were very similar to the A E ratios of the carp requirement values. Since previous studies have established a high correlation between whole-body amino acid patterns and dietary amino acid requirement patterns of several fish species, the whole-body amino acid values determined in this study will provide indices for formulating diets for the goldfish, golden shiner and fathead minnow.