"My understanding is that this bacteria will grow only as fast as it is fed waste, so I need fish in there producing waste in order to build a bacteria colony."
The ammonia that is food for the bacteria doesn't have to come from fish poop. Rotting proteins give off ammonia. You can add fish flakes to the tank without any fish in there and the fish flakes will rot and feed the bacteria. The fish are a completely unnecessary intermediate step. That's why this thing called "fishless cycling" exists where you get the tank and set it up and feed it and all that, BUT you don't put fish in it. You feed the tank flakes every day as if there were fish, but there aren't any. And it turns out that it goes just as quickly as if there were fish in there. There is no advantage to putting fish in the tank before it is cycled. So wait until the tank is completely cycled before you add more fish. All you would be doing is exposing more fish to painful ammonia burns. The guppies will be fine without company until the cycle is over.

Edit: I just read back up and saw that Natalie said this quote, which is right. "My understanding is that this bacteria will grow only as fast as it is fed waste, so I need fish in there producing waste in order to build a bacteria colony."

I am not oppossed to doing my own research, but since you folks have been so helpful I will ask another question and maybe if someone has the time and interest they will help me out.

As I said, the pet store informed me yesterday that the tap water in the town I live in has chlorine problem. On their recommend I bought a little bottle of Kordon: Amquel Plus Conditioner to nutralize the chlorine. Not wanting my fish to die I immediately took that advice and added the recommended amount to my tank because I was afraid if I didn't I would kill more fish. Now I am trying to read up on exactly what this stuff does and have several questions that I am having a hard time sifting through all the on line ads to get at answers.
The bottle says it detoxifies nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, chlorine, and chloramines. I wonder though if this additive will negate the natural maturation of the tank. Does it completely remove ammonia and nitrate thus causing that benneficial bacteria colony to effectively starve to death and thus requiring me to constantly rely on additives rather than develop a naturally sustaining ecosystem in the tank. Does that concern make sense?
Additionally, I wonder now about how to approach water changes knowing that the water itself is toxic to my fish. I have a britta water filter pitcher that I use for drinking water. I wonder if I should run the water through it before adding it to the tank.
For right now I have have two guppies remaining in the tank and a coupon for a replacement of the three fish that died earlier in the week to be replaced. I am not even considering adding more fish until I understand better what I am doing.
I am going to keep trying to read up on this stuff on my own, but thought that since these forums are full of experienced people I would solicit advice on this additive and its impact on the way I know approach keeping a healthy aquarium. Also, if anyone else has this issue with chlorine in their tap water, how do you deal with that?

Chlorine is bad for fish, but don't discount the ammonia problem. The two issues are actually related. Not only is chlorine bad for fish, it is also bad for beneficial bacteria. So, as you were doing water changes to bring your ammonia down and save your fish, you were inadvertently killing off your bacteria population.

The dechlorinator works by binding to the chlorine molecules that are in the water and thereby neutralizing them. Like Dan said, chlorine is a common problem and dechlorinators are very effective, so don't worry too much about your tap water. Mix the tap water and dechlorinator in a bucket before you add it to your tank.