In recent years, many innovative achievements have been made in the artificial culture of Chinese perch Siniperca chuatsi, but many gaps exist in the study of the effects of light environment on behavior, physiology, and biochemistry. Herein, the effects of light intensity and spectrum on behavior, feeding and growth performance of Chinese perch were studied. The feeding rates at 10, 25, and 50 lx were significantly higher than those at 5, 300 and 500 lx (P＜0.05). The feeding ratio was the highest (P＜0.05), under green light conditions. The results showed that the growth rate and specific growth rate in the 10 lx group were significantly higher than those in other groups (P＜0.05), and the feed coefficient was significantly lower (P＜0.05). There was no significant improvement in growth performance at 200 or 500 lx (P＞0.05). In addition, the expression level of igf1 gene in muscle was significantly higher than that in other groups under 10 lx exposure; the appetite-promoting genes npy and agrp were significantly up-regulated (P＜0.05), and the appetite-suppressing genes cart and pomc were down-regulated. At 200 and 500 lx, the expression levels of npy and agrp were not significantly different from those in the control group (P＞0.05). At the same time, the expression levels of pomc at 500 lx were significantly higher than those at 10 and 200 lx (P＜0.05). In conclusion, the growth performance of Chinese perch was significantly improved under the green light, and the appetite-promoting factors including npy and agrp and their interactions with growth-related factors promoted feeding and growth under the green light stimulation.