i have a pair of juvenile german rams (both are about 1 1/2 inches long.) i've done some reasearch on them. some books and websights say that they're omnivores, some books and websights say they're carnivores. I sometimes see my rams picking at algae if they're hungry. this is making me very confused. any help?

They are omnivores with a preference for animals over plants.

what type of animals do they eat?

Rams enjoy the same small aquatic animals as other fish do. They'll probably try almost anything small that moves. As for things people can buy for them to eat, those might include (live, frozen, or freeze dried) brine shrimp, blackworms, bloodworms, mosquito larvae, scuds, daphnia, tubifex worms, etc.

cool i feed that stuff to my fish.

would they eat 2 cm long cherry shrimp?

If your rams are 1.5" and the shrimp 2 cm, probably not but I can't say for sure. Larger rams would eat smaller cherry shrimp.

they probably will eat those small shrimp.