Aussie Finch Forum

Hi everyone, just wondering what your opinions were on housing gouldians with other finches. I have been told so many different things from gouldians can go with everything to gouldians should only be kept with themselves.

I wanted to add 2 pair to my 3m aviary which only has a pair of zebras and a pair of hecks atm. I was looking to add some foreign finches later down the track. The aviary is more for display than breeding.

Looking forward to hearing your input

Thanks
Kyle

My gouldians are in with blue faced parrot finches, owls, emblema and orange breasts and a couple of quail, not all species in the same cage but there are gouldians in with all of these species. No trouble with these at all, I have a couple of tiny OB babies flying around at the moment and even though they have crash landed into a gouldian, no problem.

Cool thanks for that. Is there any finches to keep clear of gouldians?

Hecks can be a bit agressive, and longtails in general seem to boss Gouldians at times. Having said that I have 1 pair of longtails in with 2 pairs of Gouldians without issues. Keep your total numbers to 3-4 pairs in that size aviary and you should be OK.

Canaries can be prone to air sac mites and gouldians suffer with them, although of course these can be treated for. Personally I cant think of any that wouldnt go with gouldians but I have tried to only get laid back finches...makes life so much easier.
Only birds I had any trouble with was Cubans and a RFPF, the Cubans took a dislike to an ob hen even though the cubans moving into the ob nesting area after the obs had built their nest. The RFPF got on with the gouldians ok but he was a bit possessive about the seed hopper and even when I put another hopper in there I thought he was going to wear himself to a frazzle trying to monitor both hoppers!

Great! Thanks for all the input.

I find with my gouldians that they seem to go well with all my finches and I have a few different types. It really comes down to space that they have and the individual birds that occupy that environment I had a gouldian pair that would live with anything just about and had no issues also had a male gouldian that would not let any birds down the back half of that flight without plucking a few feathers. As for breeding zebs can be annoying to alot of speices so you might end up with reduced clutches if you wish to breed.

Java finches are pretty bad with gouldians considering that they are MASSIVE bullies.

Gouldinan's are pretty inoffensive but I have found that they are often lazy when it comes to nest building and invade other species nests so I wouldn't put them in with anything that can't stand up for itself. And they don't just take the nest they parasitise it! I've kept them with zebs, cutthroats, double bars, shaft-tails (Hecks) and diamond sparrows but found on numerous occasions that baby Goulds would emerge from star nests and very few if any of their star step-siblings would survive.

GregH wrote:Gouldinan's are pretty inoffensive but I have found that they are often lazy when it comes to nest building and invade other species nests so I wouldn't put them in with anything that can't stand up for itself. And they don't just take the nest they parasitise it! I've kept them with zebs, cutthroats, double bars, shaft-tails (Hecks) and diamond sparrows but found on numerous occasions that baby Goulds would emerge from star nests and very few if any of their star step-siblings would survive.

I find this surprising, especially given their co-inhabitants included Zebras & Cutthroats which I have consistently found to be far more offensive/intrusive in temperament with other species nests compared to Gouldians. I find a single pair of Gouldians in a lightly stocked breeding aviary with other placid species to be totally inoffensive to other species and provided nest sites & options are abundant, no intrusion or aggression problems ensue. In my aviaries I find Gouldians to be one of the most placid species by far.