I have very hard water, about 20gh and slightly lower kh and the ph is 8.0. I really want to get a centrepiece fish for my 60l/15g tank and I really want some sort of dwarf cichlid probably a ram, but they need soft acidic water.

Is it better to:
A) lower the ph
B) risk it and acclimate the fish slowly
C) just not get a cichlid (last resort only, and what are good alternatives that are NOT a dwarf gourami)

How would I go about changing the ph? Because its hard water would peat and natural methods not work and be buffered out? Would I have to lower the hardness first? I don't have money to go down the RO route.

Any suggestions welcome. I hate having hard alkaline water

Look into Africans. IMO, messing with your ph is a recipe for disaster.

Africans are too large for a 15g aren't they? And they aren't as colourful

i have a couple rams in a 55 with extremely hard alkaline water and they seem to be doing ok. they have doubled in size since i got them and both are quite colorful. you might be able to get away with just acclimatizing them.

i dont think too many people try putting rams in hard alkaline water, so i cant tell you if my experience is atypical or not.

The problem is not primarily the pH, it is the mineral levels.

Blend your tap water with reverse osmosis water until the GH and KH are roughly 3 German degrees of hardness. This might be a cup or two of tap water per gallon of RO.
Then let the mix stand in a bucket with some peat moss. You can add a small fountain pump to circulate the water. Overnight ought to be enough.

You will need to make enough of this water to fill the tank, then every time you want to do a water change you will need to repeat this.
Top off the tank with pure RO water.