The high use of pesticides in intensive rice farming in the Mekong Delta constitutes a potential hazard to the environment and to people’s health. Chlorpyrifos ethyl (CPF) is a commonly used organophosphate (OP) insecticide, but information about its potential negative impacts on the aquatic environment in the Mekong Delta is scarce. Both acute and subacute toxicity tests were performed in a static nonrenewable system to investigate the effects of CPF on brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in native climbing perch fingerlings (Anabas testudineus, Bloch, 1972). Environmental parameters, such as dissolved oxygen, water temperature, and pH, were similar to field conditions in the Mekong Delta. In a 96-h lethal concentration (LC50) test, fingerlings of climbing perch were randomly exposed to five levels of CPF ranging from 0.8 to 4.5 ppm. Five sublethal levels of CPF (1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 % of the 96-h LC50 value) were tested to assess the sensitivity and recovery of the brain AChE activity in climbing perch fingerlings exposed to CPF. The results showed that CPF were moderately toxic to climbing perch with a 96-h median LC50 of 1.73 ppm. CPF also caused long-term AChE inhibition with 70 % inhibition remaining after 96 h for the four highest test concentrations. The recovery of brain AChE activity in fish placed in CPF-free water was very slow, and after 7 days the brain AChE activity was still significant lower in fish from the four highest concentrations compared with the control. The results from this study indicate that OP insecticides, such as CPF, can have long-lasting sublethal effects on aquatic species in the Mekong Delta.