Parentage assignment is a powerful tool for pedigree analysis and family selection in aquatic animals. Eleven polymorphic microsatellite markers were used to perform a parentage assignment for 417 fast-growth progeny with normal color and 52 red progeny from 26 full-sib families of Yellow River carp, . The average number of alleles for the 11 microsatellites was 8.2, and the mean values of observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, and polymorphism information content were 0.792, 0.792, and 0.76, respectively. The combined probability of exclusion reached 99.79% when both parents were unknown (confidence level, 95%). Among the carp progeny, 29 were not assigned, but 388 fast-growth progeny and 52 red progeny were accurately assigned parental pairs, resulting in an identification rate of 93.82%. By comparison of growth performance among seven families with 20 or more progeny, we identified several favorable parents and families that should be kept for further selection. For body color, two parents with recessive alleles for the red color were identified. These results provide the basis and molecular tools for further selection towards breeding new varieties of fast-growing Yellow River carp with the typical slim body shape and golden color.