In order to study the changes in the maximum metabolism of fish with different feeding habits after digestion and short-term starvation. At 24 ℃, the maximum metabolism of juvenile southern catfish, goldfish, tinca, and silver carp digestion and short-term starvation was determined. At the interspecific level, the results showed that the maximum metabolic rate of active forager gold fish after feeding was significantly higher than that of other fishes (p<005), and the maximum metabolic rate of sit-and-wait forager southern catfish was significantly lower than that of species with other feeding habits after short-term starvation (p<005).At the intraspecific level, the maximum metabolic rate of goldfish increased significantly after digestion(p<005), while the changes in MMR of southern catfish, tinca, and silver carp were not significant. Due to the strong ability of the heart gill system of goldfish, the MMR of fish increases after digestion; the maximum metabolism of the southern catfish feeding in sit-and-wait forager, as a typical digestive priority model, decreased after feeding; tinca and silver carp consumed less food at one time, and their metabolism did not increase significantly after ingestion. After short-term starvation, the physiological function of fish is downregulated to reduce energy consumption.