Long and/or short periods of fasting are common for aquatic species, because of the temporal and spatial patchiness of food availability that is a consequence of environmental and seasonal changes. It is generally accepted that in the temperate zone, the food supply for fish displays strong seasonal oscillations due to seasonal temperature fluctuations. Fish species must face two exogenous stresses in the winter:low temperatures and insufficient food resources. The aim of this study was to test whether fasting affects the maintenance metabolism and swimming performance of fish and whether the possible effects varied with acclimation temperature. To achieve our goal, we measured the resting metabolic rate (M_O2rest) and constant acceleration test speed (U_CAT) of juvenile qingbo (Spinibarbus sinensis) after 0 (control), 1, 2, and 4 weeks of fasting at both low and high acclimation temperatures (15 and 25℃). Both fasting treatment and temperature acclimation had significant effects on M_O2rest and U_CAT (P < 0.05). At the higher temperature, fasting had a negative effect on M_O2rest and U_CAT after 1 week (P < 0.05). However, when acclimated to the lower temperature, fasting had a negative effect on M_O2rest and U_CAT until up to week 4 (P < 0.05). The values of the M_O2rest and U_CAT in the lower temperature treatment were significantly lower than those in the higher temperature treatment, in groups experiencing identical fasting periods (P < 0.05). The relationship between M_O2rest and fasting time (t) was described as M_O2rest(15)=-1.96t²-5.39t+117.02 (R²=767, P < 0.001, n=24) and M_O2rest(25)=11.36t²-76.59t+246.55 (R²=0.505, P < 0.001, n=24) at 15 and 25℃, respectively. Both U_CAT and M_O2rest showed similar decreases in response to fasting, in either the lower or higher temperature treatments. The relationship between U_CAT and fasting time (t) was described as U_CAT(15)=-0.91t²+0.89t+54.16 (R²=0.343, P < 0.001, n=32) and U_CAT(25)=1.18t²-8.48t+74.14 (R²=0.532, P < 0.001, n=32) at 15 and 25℃, respectively. A positive correlation between U_CAT and M_O2rest was found in both the low and high temperature treatments. The relationship between U_CAT and M_O2rest was described as U_CAT(15)=0.23M_O2rest+28.99 (R²=0.961, P=0.020, n=4) and U_CAT(25)=0.12M_O2rest+45.59 (R²=0.980, P=0.010, n=4) at 15 and 25℃, respectively. The slope value of the regression equation in the low temperature treatment was significantly greater than that in the high temperature treatment (F_1,4=11.416, P=0.028). Swimming performance decreased less in the early stage of fasting, but decreased more in the later fasting stage in the low temperature treatment than in the high temperature treatment. This might be related to differences in resting metabolism, biochemical reaction rates, energy stores, enzyme activity in muscle tissue, and energy substrate utilization between fish subjected to low or high acclimation temperatures. The divergent responses of swimming performance to fasting in qingbo at different acclimation temperatures might be an adaptive strategy to seasonal temperature and food resource variations.