Artificial Bubble Nest

Ok so I have been researching gourami bubble nests, I have a pair of male and female pearl gouramis but the male is struggling to build the nest, I have turned the filter off there is no surface agitation, they are the only two in the tank, there are plenty of tannins my only issue is floating plants as the place I live just recently banned amazon frogbits, I was wondering if there are any artificial workarounds and if so what are they