purple is your color, Jake
As for acan sales... I took a flight home to LA from the Pacific this summer which included cargo from 5 different exporters that had boxes of acans in tow being sold to LA for $5.50 - $6.50 each (for medium or large respectively). Just like all the other stonies in the shipments. Just like any other week. These chaps really make their money on freight and box charges. Its a huge source of income for the early side of the supply chain.
I toured the facilities the week prior and consulted some folks... took lots of pics. I really can't say how many species of acan where there... at least 3. All were lumped/shipped legally under the permit type-species Acanthastrea echinata.
Wild color combination too... bi- and tricolors in seemingly endless color combinations (a few too that I've yet to see in US tanks yet).
I was frankly more impressed by the deepwater Montipora species being collected. Stunning colors! Truly stunning.
And many of the same species/colors that were collected in shallow water were pale or even "bleached"
A stark reminder to us/aquarists that not all so-called "sps" corals can be kept under standardized light, water flow (etc) params. It really does chide me to see so many folks get caught up in lighting/hardware concerns without giving enough thought to a truly compatible and specific list of candidate species.
Is it really any wonder that shallow water yellow-finger Porites or Goniastrea (pastel Acros, etc.) mixed in tanks less than 3 feet deep with plating Montipora or other deepwater corals does not produce stunning color and growth for all? not surprising at all... we simply cannot standardize parameters for such unnatural mixes in a mere meter or less of water.
but I digress
kind regards to all,
Anthony