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We were very lucky to have a contact in South Yorkshire who can sometimes obtain rare and unusual fish. On this occasion it was a chance to obtain a fish we had been after for about 8 years.

Mogurnda Adspersa is in the group of Gobies that are commonly known as Sleeper Gobies.

Although it has a show size of 12cms, it is still one of the smaller Sleepers.

We obtained five Adspersa's but only managed to get four home to Scotland as they are great escape artists.

We take small tank set-ups with us when we travel, on this occasion we clearly had not secured the cover.

On arriving home we set them up in a 600x600x450mm tank, filtered with a surge filter set up at the rear quarter of the tank. Sharp sea sand at the front ¾ for swimming room.

We included several caves formed out of broken field drains and flowerpots.

Only plastic plants were used in the tank. This was for no other reason than that was what we had available at the time.

The Male is larger with a more pronounced head. His ovipositor is slimmer then the female, her ovipositor being shorter and flat across the end.

The male fluffed up his finnage to impress the females, a pair parted to one end of the tank where the courtship continued.

After about 30 minutes they went into one of the caves. The female went first and laid 10 to 12 milky

They were placed gently on the roof of the cave, the male then followed closely behind depositing his milt over his future offspring.

After about 15 minutes the female seemed to loose interest in the male and she got very protective, defending the spawning site by chasing the other tank inhabitants.

The male just ignored all the fuss and continued fertilising the clutch until the female returned to the love nest.

In all there were 80 eggs, we removed the eggs and hatched them artificially as this was our first spawning.

The eggs hatched in 7 days. They were fed liquifry as their first food, but were taking newly hatched Brine Shrimp and baby E, after the second day.

We compared a spawning of peacock Gobies that spawned on the same day. The growth rate was about the same for the first month, then the Adspersa grew twice as fast as the peacocks.

We have left several spawnings with the male to rear until they are feeding themselves. We always remove the female after spawning for her own safety.

This fish is an escape artist but mostly it is carnivorous and won't hesitate to eat its brother's and sister's. Its motto is, IF IT FIT'S, EAT IT.

The picture shows both sexes with the male above in his breeding colours. The female below is a light brown and has a dark lateral line.

To spawn these little beauties I set up an 18x10x10 tank. This is filtered via a biofoam sponge filter just breaking the surface to circulate the water. These fish are bubble nest builders so it is vitally important to keep the air to a minimum so it does not damage the bubble nest.

I keep the water depth to approx 6” and the temperature to 78c. The spawning medium consists of floating plants and a small piece of polystyrene, this gives the pair an option of spawning sites.

This type of fish has the ability to produces its own air through use of a Labyrinth gland, so the theory is that they can manage very well without additional air added to the tank. I add a filter to keep the water conditions healthy.

Make sure the fish are in good breeding condition otherwise mating may take some time or not at all.

When the fish are in breeding condition the pair were introduced to their new surroundings.

The colouration intensified in both the sexes, the male developing a distinctive dark blue throat and the female her dark lateral line.

The male starts to build a bubble nest in the plants. After a short time the male curled his

body around the female to squeeze the eggs from her. He then catches all the eggs and gently blows them into the bubble nest.

Spawning is controlled by the female, when she has been stripped of all her eggs, she will hide away from the male, this is the time I remove her from the tank.

The male is left to guard the brood until they are free swimming, which is around 5 to 6 days.

I fed the fry on Infusoria and Liquifry for the first 7 to 10 days. They then go on to newly hatched Brine Shrimp for the next 4 weeks. This is when they are introduced to crushed flake/dry foods.

It is very important that the fry tank has a well fitted cover as they are very prone to temperature and humidity changes prior to the full development of the Labyrinth gland.

After two weeks I carry out daily 1 inch water changes. The water should be kept to approx the same temperature as with the fry tank.

In 1998 I went on the annual club trip to B.A.S in Bolton. Being new to the hobby I was asking information from club members about several fish.

This small pencil fish caught my eye but my knowledge about this fish was limited, so I asked Robert Paterson for advice.

This small fish has the common name of the golden pencil fish, or Nannostomus or Nannobrycon Beckfordi.

I purchased 3 pair all of about 3cms as they are not fully-grown but are sexually mature at this size. When arriving home I split up the males from the females. This was to condition the sexes for the riggers ahead.

The breeding tank was 18x12x10 and it was filtered with a sponge filter. Java moss & 4 nylon mops were added as the spawning medium.

After 3 days the plumpest female was transferred to the breeding tank, the male was introduced later that evening, then the lights were turned off.

I was very disappointed to find they had not spawned the next morning or even for the next 8 or 9 days. Possibly I introduced the male to quickly. This is down to my over keenness to start breeding fish.

This time the only tank I had available was my fighter tank, which was 30x6x6 and partitioned. I removed the partitions and placed the female in that evening but this time I waited 4 days before I introduced the male.

This allowed the female extra time in her new environment and to settle down and feed on brine shrimp and daphnia.

The male was introduced in the evening. I checked the pair in the morning, but no spawning had taken place but the male was showing interest.

He started to swim around the female with flickering finnage. The colour in his finnage had intensified and so I left them to it. The next morning I was delighted to see a thin female. I removed both adults to their own tanks. After inspection of the tank with a magnifying glass I estimated there to be over a 200 tiny eggs in the Java moss.

The fry became free swimming after 6 days and this is when I first fed them. The first food was liquifry and baby 'E'. After 10 days they were large enough to take newly hatched brine shrimp.

They continued to grow at a steady rate and after 3 months I had approx. 150, 2cm fish.

Since my first success with breeding Beckfordi, I have had several spawnings using the same method.

I have had great enjoyment breeding this little fish and rearing the fry to show size.

They make excellent show fish and will grace any tank as long as the tank mates are not aggressive as these small fish like a peaceful home.