Neptune's Garden

When Nick LaFarnara was a kid, his father opened a pet store in Batavia and Nick worked there from the time he was 5 years old.

He loved it.

But when Anthony LaFarnara was injured in a work-related accident at Doehler-Jarvis, the family had to close the pet store.

But young Nick never forgot.

"That was it," said LaFarnara. "I just couldn't get it out of my system."

In October 1985, LaFarnara and his ex-wife, reopened the store at a location on Ellicott Street. Although LaFarnara would later remarry and move the store to its current location at 33 Liberty St., Batavia, it is still going.

Neptune's Garden specializes in fish -- lots of fish, exotic and freshwater and saltwater and just plain old guppies and goldfish. It's also a favorite place for birds and reptiles.

Occasionally, they have kittens or puppies available for adoption and they also make a bulletin board available for anybody who has a pet to give away.

"Even though we don't make any money on it, it's better than seeing a pet killed," said Kathy LaFarnara, Nick's wife of about 10 years.

Kathy met Nick when she was a legal secretary for an attorney handling Nick's divorce. He told her he owned a pet store.

"I thought, 'big whoop,'" Kathy said. "I'm allergic to everything in your store."

As somebody who grew up never owning pets, she soon fell in love with having animals around.

"They run up to the door to greet you, they sleep in your bed, they just love you, and I realized, 'this is great,'" Kathy said. "I take a lot of medicine to work here."

Kathy mostly handles the birds, the reptiles, the grooming and the saltwater fish. Nick takes care of ordering, the freshwater fish and pretty much everything else.

Besides selling pets, the LaFarnaras give tours to local schoolchildren and bring pets into schools so they can learn about different kinds of animals.

"We tell them what it's like to own a business, take care of the pets and never get to take a vacation," Kathy said.