Excellent, things are looking up and I commend you for wanting and working to save these fish's lives!
In answer to the questioning by the beginner up there.. yes this is the right idea to be worried about the chlorine/chloramine from your water authority being able to kill your bacteria, but in practice one is never quite sure of the extent of this. Often a certain percentage (or even seemingly a majority) of the bacteria will live through this. There is quite a difference though, depending on the maturity of the bacterial biofilms, which help bacteria to withstand external assaults. If the bacteria are quite new and young they are more vulnerable, whereas an old, mature colony can easily withstand a 10% water change with no dechlor for instance... although again, it must be remembered one usually does not know the extent of chlorination and that can vary largely.
Obviously, you've already made the choice for the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, but I do think you'll be pleased with that. Its what many of us here like and use. A GH/KH liquid test kit can also be useful but is not necessarily a neccessity if one wants to save money until one knows its really needed.
Water changes (done with the right technique) will be your friend, especially prior to having your kit and knowing the water situation in more detail. These are pretty big fish that will be putting significant water through their gills, so don't underestimate how quickly they may be able to foul the water!
~~waterdrop~~
not that this is important but last night when i turned the light off at about 10pm everyone was fine, no hassle, tonight i turn it off and one of the gourmis acted quite startled and the bala seemed very agitated and attacked the new thermometer twice (which he'd ignored all day up till the point at which the lights went out).
