The rheotaxis behaviour and Swimming metabolic characteristics of three familiar species of fish (Carassius auratus, Siniperca knerii, Tachysurus fulvidraco) from Yuanshui River by hydropower cascade development were tested using self-manufactured fish swimming ability and metabolic apparatus by adjusting water velocity on the laboratory. The results showed that The relative induction velocity of Carassius auratus, Siniperca knerii, and Tachysurus fulvidraco were, respectively, 0.79±0.14BL/s,1.16±0.07BL/s and 0.75±0.09BL/s. The relative preferred velocity of the three fish were, respectively, 2.31±0.11BL/s,1.86±0.04BL/s and 1.60±0.03BL/s.The critical swimming speed were respectively, 3.43±0.37BL/s, 2.58±0.32BL/s and 2.68±0.13BL/s. The relative preferred velocity, critical swimming speed , RF (respiratory frequency)and OCR(oxygen consumption rate) of Tachysurus fulvidraco were significantly lower than those of the two other fish (P < 0.05). At different flow rates, the RF, TBF(tail beat frequency) and OCR of the three species of fish all showed the same trend of first increasing and then decreasing. With the increase of flow rate, the RF of all fishes had peak value at the flow rate of 3BL/s. Carassius auratus and Siniperca knerii had the highest TBF and OCR value in 2 BL/s group, while that of Tachysurus fulvidraco was in 1.5 BL/s group. The rheotaxis rate of Carassius auratus increased from 64.1% in the static water group to 100% in 4 BL/s group, while that of Siniperca knerii and Tachysurus fulvidraco increased from 60.2% and 58.9% in the static water group to 100% in 2-3 BL/s groups. The swimming states of the three species of fish were obviously affected by the current velocity. In the static water group, the swimming states of Carassius auratus were mainly in “moving forward against the current” and “downstream”,while Siniperca knerii in static water group and most of the flow rates groups were in fixed station against the current. Tachysurus fulvidraco in static water group and lower flow rates groups （<1BL/s）were also mainly in fixed station against the current. With the increase of the current velocity, the proportion of fixed station against the current greatly decreased, while that of “moving backward against the current ” increased. The results provided the reference on the environment adaptability and evolution of movement modes of fish from Yuanshui River by the cascade hydropower development.