A 120-day experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different feeding frequencies on the growth, physiology, and hepatic growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) gene expression levels of (body weight:5.0 g±0.4 g) reared in in-pond raceway culture systems (IPRS). Fish were randomly assigned to one of three feeding frequencies (2, 3 and 4 times/d) following the same ration size. No significant differences were observed in final body weight, weight gain or specific growth rate of fish fed at different feeding frequencies on days 30 and 60 (>0.05). Fish fed 2 times/d showed higher growth than those fed 4 times/d on day 90, and had higher growth than those fed 3 times/d and 4 times/d on day 120. No significant differences were found in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), or alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities, lysozyme, cortisol and triglyceride (TG) content, hepatic total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities, nor in malondialdehyde (MDA) content among fish fed at different feeding frequencies (>0.05). Serum total protein (TP) and glucose (Glu) content, and catalase (CAT) activity, decreased, while total cholesterol (TC) content increased with increasing feeding frequency. Fish fed 2 times/d had higher hepatic total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) than those fed 4 times/d on days 60, 90 and 120 ( gene mRNA expression on days 30, 60 and 120 (<0.05), while no significant difference was found on day 90. No significant difference was found in gene mRNA expression on days 30 and 60, while fish fed 4 times/d exhibited lower P<0.05). Based on the growth, physiology, and hepatic gene expression levels, the optimal feeding frequency for (average body weight:5.0 g±0.4 g) reared in IPRS is 2 times/d. These data are crucial for the optimization of culture conditions and feeding management strategies in IPRS culture operations.