Cardinal Fish Died in an Accident- Do I need to get another one?

One of the two cardinal fish I have in my 72 gallon aquarium died in a tragic filter accident today. They were both very healthy, and believe me, I have taken the necessary precautions to prevent this from happening again. I feel awful about what transpired. I was wondering if I should get another one for the companionship of the remaining one? It is my understanding that these like to live in pairs - but was curious about introducing a new one now that this tank has been established with no new fish additions for over 8 months now. I just want to do whatever is best for the remaining cardinal fish. I have 2 other fish in the tank- an engineer goby and a yellow tang. The cardinal fish were bought together roughly a year ago. Thanks for any advice!

 

for a healthy fish, there is no such thing as a filter accident, if they are healthy, they will not get sucked up by the filter, it's probably a fish that was already feeling ill. and most fish won't be crushed by falling rocks, "most" that is

 

I would get another. They will pair up.

 

Thanks for the replies. This one got sucked into the filter while I was cleaning the little piece that fits over the tube that pulls the water into the filter. Obviously, it was a bad idea to be rinsing that off without turning off the filter and a horrible mistake on my part. Have been doing in for years and never thought about it. :-[ It is possible it was sick, but it has been eating fine and acting normal. So, pharmrjohn, you don't think my remaining one would bully a new one? Perhaps I will wait a few weeks to make sure no other fish get sick before adding another, in the case that the other was indeed weaker and it was just subclinical. Thanks!

 

Sorry but I don't agree with that, I had a very healthy clown fish live in my overflow box for a couple months, she could have easily been taken down the drain pipe and died. I found her about three months ago and she's still alive now. I also had my foxface decide to sleep next to the intake on a pump I was using as a powerhead, it got stuck to it and I really thought it was dead, couldn't even swim for a good 12 hours. That was about 6 months ago and it's still alive. The fish were healthy to begin with, just made bad decisions.