It's been 120+ days for my Giant Gourami. Been over 3 months since I began planting the tank. The soft plants are all gone as well as the Amazon swords. The giant gourami destroyed all the cabombas and the anacharis. The Amazon sword, I removed it by myself. It keeps floating which have it uprooted and hence get no nutrients from the substrate. Substrate is not thick enough and scattering the Amazon swords make the tank look ugly. I guess collecting all 8 plants together into a single mass makes them more buoyant. The rest of the Java ferns, anubias and the other plants are growing crazy.
Lastly, these two large fish of mine just survive a disaster. I left for 32 days for a vacation. On the 15th day, my canister filters died and hence the water quality went dead from there. The people I left my fish with are helpless. But I am here now, and they seem OK and eating well now. Plants did a lot of help in keeping them alive.