Airwreck,
Yeah the pipe would be illegal, just a escape valve for you, plus, since you are going to be raising fish you might want to drain the bad water from the bottom and take advantage of the fresh rain water to refill.
My spillway is only 18" wide at the bottom and a little over a foot deep, so it could easily be incorporated into a driveway.
"How long after your completion was the last photo taken??" Ha Ha, I am still working on it, 2 years and 2 months. The hole was finished in a week, the first full was 9 months later. All of the stuff in the last picture is several feet taller now.
Bougainvillea, at least here, are a dry season grower, those 2 in the picture are unusual they grow almost year round. They are about 18 months old. I planted them on 3 sides intending to create a natural fence, but none reached more than shrub status. I do have some beautiful bougainvillea, but small.
We also have red clay in our area, mine is just the regular light brown junk. It is the same as your's in that it is rock hard or knee deep. My good soil comes from years of rice growing.
My tilapia are 3 years old today and I caught a 9 pounder a couple of weeks ago. So they are a good choice, they do taste pretty rank if you don't feed them though, the algae they eat taints the taste if that is their complete diet.
