Stable vs ideal water parameters

[k0olmini]

Hey everyone I’ve got a question. What do you think fish value more, ideal water parameters that I may have trouble maintaining or stable but not ideal parameters? I asked because I’ve got ph 8.0-8.2 and water hardness 150-200 ppm. I want to keep some of the softer water acidic fish but I’m hesitant on pulling the trigger because I’ve heard some unfortunate luck with black cory Doras (unsure if it was water parameters but they slowly died off). 
 

In my water I’m currently keeping Blue cochu tetras, Glowlight Danios, Cherry Barbs, Red Lizard Tail Catfish, Bronze corys, yellow laser corys, and electric blue acara. They seem to be doing well but I think I got lucky with the more hardy species. I want to try apistos but it seems like a $50 death sentence. So to turn this back around after all my rambling. What’s more important, stable parameters or ideal parameters that I would have some trouble maintaining. 

[lefty o]

imo, stable is more important so long as you arent so far off. the kicker is, if you buy a fish that was raised in soft water, and plop it into a very hard water tank, it could seriously stress the fish. if you can find fish raised in water conditions similar to yours would be the best bet.