Mark Duffill was born in 1972, and his trade was originally that of an electrician, although, he had an interest in fish from a very young age. He got his first fish when he was 6 years old and was 'hooked' immediately. As soon as he was old enough he became a junior member of the local fish keeping club that his parents ran and got the bug for showing fish and winning prizes!  Eventually he became a valued committee member of the club and was eventually club secretary.

This aside he also advanced to become an A-class judge for the North East Federation of Aquarist Societies. The hobby of fish keeping took a back seat for a while due to work commitments, however unfortunately his career as an electrician ended in 1999 when he broke his L4 vertebrae and later was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and spondylosis in the spine. Since then he channelled his time, energy and passion for fish to keeping, breeding, collecting and catching them.

Mark works primarily with Loaches, Rasboras and other Asian species, although he has periodically diverted his attention to other fish including African Rift Cichlids, Characins, Catfish, Discus, Gobies, Livebearers of all descriptions and even at one point had nothing but Rainbow fishes, but no matter what he has kept he was always drawn back to Loaches and Rasboras. Mark owns and gives time to several websites, forums and Facebook groups.

In 2009, Mark became the founder of the International Loach Association, formerly Loach Association of Great Britain. Mark has also had his articles published in several magazines around the worldand had them translated into numerous languages and has collaborated with several authors of magazine articles and books. Mark has been invited to travel to clubs and conventions around the UK, Europe and United states of America to give presentations on Loaches. Unfortunately travel was halted during the covid pandemic but presentations continued via online streaming for clubs and Eventions. Mark has also started writing his own books on loaches working with specific families in each book.

Marks passion for loaches has seen him successfully spawn 40+ species, which for sometime loaches were considered unbreedable but thanks to Mark and people like him, this myth has been dispelled. Species Mark has spawned include Ambastaia sidthimunki, Several species of Sewellia and Gastromyzon and Paracanthocobitis nigrolineata, also first recorded spawnings such as Botia kubotai, Botia histrionica, Acanthopsoides molobrion and Yasuhikotakia splendida.