pair of clowns

[sam123]

I may have just done something bad, I had a pair of maroon clowns, or so I thought. They have been happy together for a couple months and then the larger of the two got mean and tried to pick the small one to death. I hated to see this happen so I pulled him out and put him in a tank all by himself so he could recover and now I am wondering if this was the natural cycle as she got bigger. Can I put them back together? They can see each other from their respective tanks. They usually stay in the side of the tank that they can see each other and they do not seem aggresive though the tank. They have been apart for about a week now.
HELP

[rsman]

there is a stickie in the clownfish forum that specifically gives info on maroon's they are one of the harder clowns to pair up, so read it.

[sam123]

Thanks, I will try to see if she will take him back. That is what happens when you get to attached to your fish. :)

[David M]

If there is enough size difference you could possibly make a refugium for the smaller clown with holes just large enough for him to pass through, but too small for the female. If he is small enough to pass through eggcrate it's easy. If not you could corner off a section of the tank with a sheet of acrylic and drill the right sized holes, ... a LOT of them so he doesn't have to search around for an entrance.

[sam123]

Do you think with them being together prior to this that it will help the reunion?

[David M]

Tough question, would depend a lot on the period of seperation I think. The shorter the better. They are fish, pretty simple animals.

[sam123]

Well I will know tonight because I will try to put them back together in a 55 gal tank.
Thank you for your time.