Ocellaris pair - should I separate them?

[Quandale applesauce]

I bought a pair of long fin ocellaris from my LFS 4 weeks ago. They are aquacultured and had been the only fish in their tank at the store for over a month. I have them in a 100gallon 4 foot tank with a canary blenny, a royal gramma, two fire fish and a hector's goby.

One is a little larger than the other. They were initially well behaved but in the last 1-2 weeks the larger one has become more aggressive. They shutter in front of each other and display and sometimes the smaller goes after the bigger one. I have attached a video. The larger one is darker in coloration. I think this is typical pairing behavior but I am concerned about the frayed fins on the smaller. Sometimes I see them on opposite ends of the tank. Then the larger one decides she wants to be aggressive and darts over.

My question is- at what point do I separate them and how do I reintroduce them? I don't want the smaller one injured or stressed to cause illness.

Thank you
QA

 

[fishguy242]

Lip locking, fin grabbing ,damage to smaller one that you are not seeing happen. til then let them work it out IMO

 

[Quandale applesauce]

Thank you for reply. This is an updated video. They are sometimes calm and sometimes go after each other like this. Still ok to leave them be?

QA

 

[fishguy242]

Seems like the smaller one is the aggressor

 

[Baldyreef]

Seems to me like they’re trying to establish Dominance over each other, eventually the more dominant one will become larger and grow into a female I would personally let them work it out unless serious injuries start to occur

 

[Mongo1.0]

They larger one normally becomes the female. It is part of the bonding process. It is hard to see the abuse the smaller ones takes, but it is part of the process.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I would keep a close eye on them and see how it pans out. It does sound like typical clown dominance, though