Apistos come from soft, acidic water in their natural habitats. IMO any time you are keeping a fish you should keep it in optimal conditions or else why bother? Yes you can keep apistos in hard, alkaline water but they won't thrive (and possibly won't breed) like they would with more natural, optimal conditions. Tank raised fish will likely be more tolerant of a wider range of conditions, but lots of apistos are still imported and wild caught and they're pretty sensitive fish overall when compared with most other cichlids.
Also, I recommended borelli over cacatuoides because borellis are less aggressive and you can keep more fish in a tank vs. cacatuoides or agassizi who are more likely to chew up tank mates after pairing.
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