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While I don't claim to be an expert, I have had cockatiels in the past and if I'm not mistaken, in the wild, the birds eat mostly grass seeds and probably any other seeds they can get their beaks on. We tried every type of food, seed or otherwise, and our cockatiels only seemed to like certain things and would toss out anything they didn't like. We quickly learned what they went for and what they didn't by the mess surrounding the cage every day. We found out that they loved popcorn and peanuts, and if I remember correctly, went ape for the big, black sunflower seeds. I think they liked fresh melon as well and whenever we had some, they would get a chunk of it to nibble on too. The idea with seeds is to give the birds a big selection and they will pick out what they like and ignore (or toss) what they don't. They will also fill up their food dish with discarded seed husks so it's important to keep the food trays clean and dry. I invented a method of cleaning the husks from the food trays without wasting the uneaten seeds. You simply take the tray over to a wastebasket and use a plastic drinking straw to blow out the husks. The good seeds get left behind in the tray. It worked every time for my birds.
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