I have a whole different collection of fish from arulius barbs to brown pencil fish and 2 rams and although the male likes to think he rules the tank he is actually harmless and seems to be all talk no action. It does depend on the fish you buy but they are usually peaceful overall. The red variety is beautiful and I wish I had some but I only ever see them once and never got any, how stupid was I. The only thing with rams is they are very sensitive to water quality and I find this even more so in females. Overall I'd say go for it, barbs can look after themselves against a fish of a rams size any way.