He should not be chasing food. Do not feed him live food. There is nothing to prevent him from slamming into the walls. My big boys have vivid imaginations and freak out at the thought of a predator about to get them. Slamming into a wall or tank lid is the only thing that stops the freaking out. Always maintain excellent water parameters, and your pacu should heal fast with no treatment.
My Leonardo de Fishio has a permanently deformed upper lip from slamming into walls.
He also managed to slice off his lower lip slamming into a tank lid that I had forgotten to put back.
His lower lip did regenerate
We run a 40W UV sterilizer on their tank. All their scrapes and cuts heal very quickly. Excellent water parameters and removing all objects from the tank that they could injure themselves on limits the damages to the pacu. We're going to put backgrounds on the sides of their big tank with the hope that will prevent the pacu from slamming into the walls. I have a theory that in their huge panic, they don't see the end of the tank and hit the wall thinking they can keep swimming away from whatever they imagine is threatening them.
