if they're anything like tsn or any other kind of catfish, they will eat whatever they can fit in there mouth, if you diced it up big enough for him to fit it into his mouth then yea, when i brought home my very first shovel nose (tiger shovel nose) he ate the night i brought him home. he ate shrimp like they were going out of style.
im really sorry about the loss man, but this just means you have time to prepare further and get your priorities straight so that you have no worries when you bring one home.