need urgent breeding advise

[BoyO_O]

hi all here is the scenario, I have 1 pair of Pearl Rays; 13 inches Male and 10+ inches Female, currently they are both separated in the same tank by a separator, just now when the separator came out, the male started to bite the female, leaving some marks and the female swam away from the male, question is if i manage to keep the female pearl ray bigger than the size of the male ray, will they be able to live together in the same tank? and will the female survive the bite marks left by the male? is the male trying to mate with the female or trying to kill her because they are territorial? advise please