The dietary requirements of juvenile milkfish (Chanos chanos Forsskal) for essential amino acids were determined in a series of experiments. The fish (< or = 8.0 g) were reared in fiber glass tanks provided with flow-through seawater at 28 degrees C and salinity of 32 g/L for 12 wk. In each experiment, a series of amino acid test diets was formulated containing a combination of intact protein sources (casein-gelatin, fish meal-gelatin, fish meal-soybean meal or fish meal-zein) and crystalline amino acids to simulate the levels found in milkfish tissue proteins except for the test amino acid. Each set of isonitrogenous diets contained 40-45% protein and graded levels of the amino acid to be tested. At the end of the feeding experiment, growth, survival and feed efficiency were determined. The requirement level for each essential amino acid was estimated from breakpoint analysis of the growth curve. The dietary essential amino acid requirements (as the percentage of dietary protein) of milkfish juveniles were as follows: arginine, 5.25; histidine, 2.00; isoleucine, 4.00; leucine, 5.11; lysine, 4.00; methionine, 2.50 (cystine, 0.75); phenylalanine, 4.22 (tyrosine, 1.00) or 2.80 (tyrosine, 2.67); threonine, 4.50; tryptophan, 0.60; valine, 3.55. This information is valuable in developing cost-effective practical or commercial feeds and research diets for milkfish juveniles.