Yes, Fishman, unfortunately having fish tanks is a TON of work. I came home on Thursday night to my 55gal with 6" of water in it and the rest of the water soaked into my living room carpet (problem with either the hoses or spray bar on the canister filter, so it was a slow "leak"). I had to move all the fish into different tanks, remove all the rocks, driftwood and plants, drain the tank as far as I could and clean up the carpet. All in all, it meant for 3+ hours of work and I still haven't gotten around to checking the canister yet (made sure the tank wasn't the problem first). But as soon as I get the problem fixed, I will be setting the 55gal back up, even though it means even more work.
As for the ram and African butterfly fish combination. It would work because rams are bottom-dwellers and African butterfly fish rarely, if ever, leave the surface. The biggest problem I see is that neither of those fish are very beginner-friendly, which means you'll have to keep on top of your water parameters (could mean bi-weekly water changes depending on your filter) and you may have to find special food for the African butterfly fish if it doesn't want to eat just plain old flakes...which equates to more work.