New Biorb Stocking Question

Question
QUESTION: Hi Jamie-
I currently have a tiny 3 gallon rectangular tank. Living quite happily in this tank are two fish:
1 Fancy Guppy
1 Whitecloud (not sure that is the correct name, but he is white, about the size of a guppy, and has a red tail).

I just bought a new 8 gallon Biorb tank. I'm really excited to get some more fish, although I have heard that an 8 gallon Biorb can house less fish than a regular 8 gallon tank because of the smaller surface area. I'd like your suggestions on how to stock my new tank. I'd love a shoal of tiny fish. I know I can't get too many, but I'd like to get more than the 2 I have now. What do you think?
ANSWER: An 8 gallon biorb tank could potentially house a small school of endler's livebearers (all males) or the newly released galaxy rasboras.  You could also try a small school of neon tetras (6) or a male betta and a couple dwarf frogs.  An 8 gallon biorb is very small and is difficult to house too many fish which you have alrady discovered.  Make sure to fully cycle your tank before placing any fish in it, especially the kind that can fit in that tank as they are all rather sensitive fish.  Good luck

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Jamie-
Thanks for your quick response! One quick question- what do you mean by "cycle the tank before putting any fish in it"?

Answer
To cycle is to put the tank through the nitrogen cycle.  Here is a short summary of the nitrogen cycle:

Basically, when a fish eats, it then eliminates.  this waste produces ammonia which is toxic to fish.  There is a bacteria that is in water that "eats" the ammonia and breaks it down into nitrite, which is also toxic to fish.  luckily, there is another bacteria that "eats" nitrite and breaks it down into nitrate.  This is removed through water changes.  The catch is that there is not enough bacteria naturally to break down this waste.  It takes about 4-6 weeks for enough bacteria to form to handle the waste.  That is why fishless cycling is good.  Here is a link to how to do fishless cycling:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html

if you don't want to do fishless cycling...which is highly encouraged for the sake of the fish, you can get 1 or 2 fish and squeeze filter squeezings form your 3 gallon tank over the filter cartridge on your new tank and take a handful of gravel and put it in your new tank.  If all else fails, try to get biospira which will cycle it with the fish within a few days.