Clown fish jumped!

[Kial]

So today one of my clown fish jumped out the tank when I was at work. My brother in law noticed and put it back in the tank as soon as he seen the fish on the floor.

The clownfish was then sort of swimming in 1 spot on the sandbed, at this point he was alive.

I got home a couple hours later and the fish is literally nowhere to be seen. My rock work is pretty open and the caves I can see into. Vanished!

Still have another clown fish in the tank, will I have any trouble adding a new clown if this jumper doesn't show up? And do clownfish need to be in pairs?

 

[TheBear78]

I'm sorry to hear about the fish.
My first two fish were a pair of Clownfish and one jumped overnight. I changed from optimist to realist that day and bought a cover. The jumper was a goner.
Clowns can be on their own or pairs. More than that and I think you'll need a bigger group and typically added at the same time. As for adding a partner for your remaining fish I'll let someone else chime in.
With regard to the missing fish I also lost one of seven Green Chromis a few days after he was ousted from the group (typical behaviour).
I do have plenty of hiding places so assumed it had died somewhere and been consumed by the CUC. About 4 weeks later my drain pipe randomly blocked and the sump was bubbling away via the overflow. Initially I couldn't work out what was going on but then I realised that the gate valve was blocked. I open it up fully and out popped a rather decomposed chromis...

 

[Dburr1014]

So today one of my clown fish jumped out the tank when I was at work. My brother in law noticed and put it back in the tank as soon as he seen the fish on the floor.

The clownfish was then sort of swimming in 1 spot on the sandbed, at this point he was alive.

I got home a couple hours later and the fish is literally nowhere to be seen. My rock work is pretty open and the caves I can see into. Vanished!

Still have another clown fish in the tank, will I have any trouble adding a new clown if this jumper doesn't show up? And do clownfish need to be in pairs?

Single or pairs as mentioned is fine.
To add a new one if you are going that route, find one that is not the same size. If you have a small clown, go bigger cuz it most likely is a male. If yours is bigger, go smaller, may have to get 2 to disperse aggression. When one pairs up, bring the other back.

 

[reefsaver]

I would always get a smaller clown than my current one because Clownfish are usually spawned in groups and haven't really found their place in the pecking order giving them the opportunity to get all alpha and turn female.