Triplicate lots of fry of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) were fed a basal diet (47% protein) containing 67% corn gluten meal with and without a mixture of essential amino acids. The composition of the mixture was based on the differences between the amino acid contents of corn gluten meal and trout eggs. Fry fed the basal diet without added essential amino acids gained little weight, suffered high mortality and had eroded caudal fins. Addition of the mixture of amino acids (lysine, arginine, histidine, isoleucine, threonine, valine and tryptophan) significantly improved weight gain and prevented nearly all mortality and fin erosion. Single deletions of the amino acids valine, tryptophan, threonine, histidine and isoleucine had no significant effect on weight gain but the deletion of lysine alone significantly reduced weight gain and caused fin erosion and mortality. Deletion of arginine reduced weight gain (P less than .05), but did not cause mortality or fin erosion. Feeding graded levels of each of these two amino acids showed that the minimum lysine requirement for maximum growth was about 6.1% of protein, and the minimum arginine requirement was between 5.4 and 5.9% of protein. The lysine requirements for prevention of fin erosion and mortality appeared to be lower than that for maximum weight gain.