Hypothetical

[aap1966]

Lets say you had a 8 sq m planted aviary in Brisbane housing 6 orange breasted waxbills and 2 king quail.
You could add any other foreign finch pair. Price irrelevent. Only criteria is live food not essential when not breeding.

Discuss.

[wagga]

Good question/hypothetical. Orange breasts are such a great bird, in temperament and housing needs. I would suggest some african and australian finches at 1 pr each. eg. red billed firefinch (ruddy), red checked cordon blues, stars, painted firetail (emblema), blue or red faced parrot finch (not both together). The list of possibilities are numerous. The birds I have suggested will provide a combination of colour to the aviary, temperament compatibility, eagerness to breed, resale value of any progeny, simple housing and feeding requirements.
Keep in mind not to over crowd the aviary as this could result in damage to your plants and a reduction in possible breeding OR if the finches are for a display aviary over stocking rates are not that important in an aviary this size. My aviaries are similar size to yours and I have around 6 - 7 pairs per aviary with relatively good success.
Others might disagree, but the choice is up to the individual.

[Diane]

What about firefinches? Mine are good community aviary birds, and if you are into mutations there is a choice there too, normal, pinks or pied.

I also would say emblema, they must be the most laid back bird, and the pair I have are regular producers of babies. The call of the male is quite unique too.

[Pete Sara]

With bluebutterfly on this one all are good choices, the painted /emblemas sound like a car trying to start when he is in courting mode......pete

[flap]

What about St Helenas? another african waxbill, similarly easy to keep from what I read, and similar temperament. At least that is what I am aiming to add to our aviary! ;)

[mickw]

You specified Foreigns?? Is this purely because you dont want the hassle of licencing?.......Not sure about Qld but not all Natives require a licence here in NSW, so Stars, Embemas (Painted) are easy/good ones.....................Any of the parrot finches, Cordons (though you dont want to feed livefood).....what about Gouldians?

[Jayburd]

rufous backed mannikins?

[aap1966]

Thanks for the input guys. I said foreign as I think it's a real shame that we're losing some foreign species and I'd like to " do my bit" to prevent that if possible, hence I'm happy to spend a bit more on a pair of rarer finches. For personal reasons the orange breasts are absolutes.

[Jayburd]

I'd like to do my bit too, but it may well be too late by the time I'm able to.
I hope to be keeping blue caps, grenadiers, green singers etc.

[jusdeb]

Whatever happened to the nice lady that joined here from Africa ? Any hoo found it interesting that she commented that she could get most of the Aussie native finches but the African natives were scarce... I was hoping she would come online more as I was very interested in knowing what birds were available there.