Questions Questions Questions on aquarium cycling

Hello Fellow Fish Friends,

This is my first post. I am very new to fish keeping and I believe I have 'jumped the gun' so to speak on this new endeavor and am trying to figure out the right thing to do from this point on.

I purchased a Fluval V (5.6 gallon) tank. I figure with gravel/decorations that this tank is holding about 5 gallons of actual water. Where I really messed up was I set the tank up and let it run for a few days and THEN added four male fan tale guppy's AND a male betta.

OK...so everything is in place and running fine...the fish are happy. I then start reading online fish forums and NOW I understand this entire fish tank cycle thing that needs to happen. I did purchase the ATP Master Test Kit for freshwater.

Here's what's happening... I am doing 1 to 2 gallon water changes daily. This tank has now been set up/running for 3 weeks. I am getting ammonia readings of up to .50PPM (these fall rapidly after water changes, but are up again within 24 hours). I am continuing to do these water changes for the sake of the fish. The fish are ALL most happy, swimming nicely, eating very well.

I am using water straight from the tap. I have well water and the pH is between 6.8 and 7...I have no other chemicals in my water, nor does it go through any other filtration systems, so the water is pretty good quality.

There are 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates showing as of now. Is my constantly doing partial water changes prohibiting the bacteria from being able to colonize? I hate to stop doing the water changes as I do not want the fish to die.

Do I have an option here? Should I continue to do these 2 gallon a day water changes and wait this out? Will the cycling still happen with my doing these changes? Should I find homes for these fish (or take them back to the pet store) and then allow the tank to just sit and cycle? Really not sure the right thing to do.

Many thanks...I know this is a lot of questions and I'm really aggravated at myself for not first researching this before I dove into it. This is all very different from the 'goldfish day's' of my childhood

Thank's for any and all help,
Dave