How do acans spread?

my first acan frag i had started spreading over the frag rock it was on. first it covered the sides, and instead of expanding out, is started to cover the bottom of my frag rock. now that i glued that rock onto another it's starting to expand out.

 

I was gunna ask this same question today because mine were starting to grow on the underside of the frag i got so i just put it on a bigger rock to let it spread that way instead of letting it grow more skeleton. i herd it encrusts way faster than its skeleton grows

 

yeah the new heads come from underneath..when they close up at night, if you have moonlights, you can see the skin and it just spreads as it grows and new heads pop up..so they grow on anything..

 

heres 3 heads i just noticed and to give yall an idea how they grow

 

I love the orange crush. Those are nice.

 

That's cool. I think I'll start it on the floor and then move it to another rock. I'll see how it goes.

 

Hate to rain on a parade, but that's not an orange crush.

This is an orange crush echinata (borrowing a pic from a 3reef AquaSD thread):

 

This is as well...according to Wet Thumb Frags

Item 496 , Orange Crush Acan - $14.00 : Wet Thumb Frags!, The Art of Coral Frags

I guess the color variations are significant.

 

Right, purple alongside the orange is still regarded as an orange crush, but predominately green outside the polyp's center is not.

 

They grow differently because they are two different species. Acan lords grow new heads on to their skeleton. As the Heads grow, so does the skeleton. Acan echinatas grow in mats where all the heads are completely attached and not just by a small amount of flesh as the acan lords are.

Neither grow like zoas. They both make their own skeleton. I have found that when placed on rocks, acan lords grow flat. However, when placed in the sand, they seem to grow in more of a half ball shape.