Green water, composed of either single or multiple microalgae, has several practical implications including direct food of early stages of fish and crustaceans, probiotic action, immune enhancement, microbe control, water refinement and so on. Microalgae are diverse group of aquatic organisms with varying biochemical compositions and therefore, it is necessary to investigate suitable microalgae for specific fish species. The positive impact of adding green water in prawn larval rearing tanks is not well studied and therefore, the present study is aimed to evaluate the suitability of green water composed of single and multiple microalgal strains and their potential effects on survival rate (%), growth (as larval condition index, LCI) and larval development (larval stage index, LSI) of fresh water prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii). In this study, freshly hatched larvae (zoea1) were reared until the first post larval stage in plastic aquaria (10 liter, 12ppt, 12L:12D conditions) dividing into five treatment groups, such as T1 (without green water, control), T2 (Chlorella vulgaris), T3 (Nannochloropsis salina), T4 (Thalassiosira pseudonana) and T5 (composed of three above microalgae at 1:1:1). Microalgal concentration in all tanks were maintained as 10×105 cells/ml-1cells. Each treatment had 50 larvae, which were randomly distributed into three replicates. Larvae were fed 6 times a day with Artemia nauplii at the concentration of 4-6 individuals/ml-1. Water quality parameters such as temperature, salinity, DO, pH, turbidity, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels were recorded twice a day before and after water exchange. Survival rate, LSI and LCI were significantly higher (P<0.05) for larvae reared under all microalgae based green water than respective control. Maximum larval performance was attained in green water incorporated with C. vulgaris (survival 67.3%, LSI 24.8 days, LCI 16.1±2) followed by N. salina (56.1%, 27.2, 13.4±3), mixed microalgal (46%, 32.4, 9.4±6), T. psuedonana (41.6%, 34.3 days, 7.9±5), and control group (39.7% and 35.3 days and 7.3±6). Water quality parameters were remained in optimal limit except in the case of Ammonia and nitrite levels. In conclusion, the application of green water enriched with C. vulgaris is highly recommended for the sustainable larval production of fresh water prawns.