It has been 4 weeks now. Quite a satisfying progress. The plants have established pretty well. There was some algae attack to take care of in between but it was not all that serious. Some green dot and hair algae had shown up ( which I believe is quite expected a new planted setup) but my algae eaters have done the job quite well and kept things under control.
I now have populated the tank with Siamese Algae Eaters, Cherry Red Shrimps, Rummynose Tetras and Neon Tetra. Did a mistake of getting a pair of Bolivian Rams. They were not supposed to be good companions for the shrimps and I got feedback from folks to get rid of them. Dejection or loneliness seems to have got to them before me. They quit the aquatic world shortly and brought the shrimps out of their hideouts.
I am continuing to do weekly 10% water changes and regular trimming of plants. The only worry right now is the carpet grass not getting spread on the left. I see some grass budding out but nothing significant. Got to do something about it...
Here is how the tank evolved so far:
Day 1:
Day 4:
Day 7:
