how much space do guppies need and how many in a shoal??

About 2 gallons per guppy. You should buy more females than males. A good ratio would be 3 females for every male. This way the females aren't harrassed too much.

or just go for all males / all female, if you dont want a hell of a lot of babies!!!

If you go with all females, you could end up with babies anyways since they could already be pregnant LoL

cool, that sounds great, but i have to wait a while, im doing my first ever cycle!!
i wont set up any mre tanks until the end of that

Good luck!