Jelly, thanks for the compliment. He doesn't seem to mind them being in the tank. They actually help clean up all the little scraps of food after he eats.
There have been a few people try very small fish with big Aimara, Tetra's etc. some people have said the odd one or two gets picked off occasionally. I tried a group of cardinals when mine was about 18", he ate them all. It's good to hear you are being successful.