Both are at the top of my list of favourite fishes.
Rams need ditter fishes. In my expereince, in bare tanks they fare very badly... clamp fins, hiding in corners. But with plants and other decor, plus ditter fishes they settle in quite well. They display typical cichlid curiosity and intelligence. They are not painfully shy... i.e. they are not going to hide all day. Once comfortable in the tank, you will see them 'hunting' amonst the plants. If startled, they hide, but you'll soon see them peeking out, before coming out to investigate. They are not bothered by boisterous fishes. They are very aggressive if they have a brood to protect, however, they are often not very good parents in captivity and often eat up the brood or lose them.
If you want them as the feature fish, you can't have too many other fishes... they'll just get lost in the crowd. They don't often swim in open water, often loitering in the lower half of the tank and stick pretty close to cover. They make nice feature fish if your other fishes are not riotously distracting.
Pearl gouramis are comparatively much larger and thus more visible. They are mid to top water swimmers. They will school somewhat, so they make nice feature fish. They do prefer still water and you will find them making bubbles nest in some quiet corner. They aren't the type to be normally hiding either.
Hope that helps.
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