diff --git a/vector-stores/spring-ai-chroma-store/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/chroma/vectorstore/ChromaApi.java b/vector-stores/spring-ai-chroma-store/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/chroma/vectorstore/ChromaApi.java
index 5c22719d4a0..cdf6292b9dd 100644
--- a/vector-stores/spring-ai-chroma-store/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/chroma/vectorstore/ChromaApi.java
+++ b/vector-stores/spring-ai-chroma-store/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/chroma/vectorstore/ChromaApi.java
@@ -136,11 +136,12 @@ public Tenant getTenant(String tenantName) {
 				.retrieve()
 				.body(Tenant.class);
 		}
+		catch (HttpClientErrorException.NotFound e) {
+			// Tenant not found, return null
+			return null;
+		}
 		catch (HttpServerErrorException | HttpClientErrorException e) {
 			String msg = this.getErrorMessage(e);
-			if (String.format("Tenant [%s] not found", tenantName).equals(msg)) {
-				return null;
-			}
 			throw new RuntimeException(msg, e);
 		}
 	}
@@ -165,11 +166,12 @@ public Database getDatabase(String tenantName, String databaseName) {
 				.retrieve()
 				.body(Database.class);
 		}
+		catch (HttpClientErrorException.NotFound e) {
+			// Database not found, return null
+			return null;
+		}
 		catch (HttpServerErrorException | HttpClientErrorException e) {
 			String msg = this.getErrorMessage(e);
-			if (msg.startsWith(String.format("Database [%s] not found.", databaseName))) {
-				return null;
-			}
 			throw new RuntimeException(msg, e);
 		}
 	}
@@ -226,13 +228,12 @@ public Collection getCollection(String tenantName, String databaseName, String c
 				.retrieve()
 				.body(Collection.class);
 		}
+		catch (HttpClientErrorException.NotFound e) {
+			// Collection not found, return null
+			return null;
+		}
 		catch (HttpServerErrorException | HttpClientErrorException e) {
 			String msg = this.getErrorMessage(e);
-			// Handle both "does not exist" and "does not exists" variants from Chroma API
-			if (String.format("Collection [%s] does not exist", collectionName).equals(msg)
-					|| String.format("Collection [%s] does not exists", collectionName).equals(msg)) {
-				return null;
-			}
 			throw new RuntimeException(msg, e);
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/vector-stores/spring-ai-chroma-store/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/chroma/vectorstore/ChromaApiTest.java b/vector-stores/spring-ai-chroma-store/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/chroma/vectorstore/ChromaApiTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0b723ed607a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vector-stores/spring-ai-chroma-store/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/chroma/vectorstore/ChromaApiTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2025-2025 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.ai.chroma.vectorstore;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import okhttp3.mockwebserver.MockResponse;
+import okhttp3.mockwebserver.MockWebServer;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
+import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
+import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for {@link ChromaApi} exception handling.
+ *
+ * @author Ilayaperumal Gopinathan
+ */
+class ChromaApiTest {
+
+	MockWebServer mockWebServer;
+
+	ChromaApi chromaApi;
+
+	@BeforeEach
+	void setUp() throws IOException {
+		this.mockWebServer = new MockWebServer();
+		this.mockWebServer.start();
+		this.chromaApi = ChromaApi.builder().baseUrl(this.mockWebServer.url("/").toString()).build();
+	}
+
+	@AfterEach
+	void tearDown() throws IOException {
+		this.mockWebServer.shutdown();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void getCollectionReturnsNullOn404() {
+		MockResponse mockResponse = new MockResponse().setResponseCode(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND.value())
+			.addHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
+			.setBody("{\"error\":\"NotFoundError\",\"message\":\"Collection [test-collection] does not exists\"}");
+		this.mockWebServer.enqueue(mockResponse);
+
+		ChromaApi.Collection result = this.chromaApi.getCollection("tenant", "database", "test-collection");
+
+		assertThat(result).isNull();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void getCollectionThrowsOnOtherClientError() {
+		MockResponse mockResponse = new MockResponse().setResponseCode(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST.value())
+			.addHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
+			.setBody("{\"error\":\"BadRequest\",\"message\":\"Invalid request\"}");
+		this.mockWebServer.enqueue(mockResponse);
+
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> this.chromaApi.getCollection("tenant", "database", "test-collection"))
+			.isInstanceOf(RuntimeException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("Invalid request");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void getTenantReturnsNullOn404() {
+		MockResponse mockResponse = new MockResponse().setResponseCode(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND.value())
+			.addHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
+			.setBody("{\"error\":\"NotFoundError\",\"message\":\"Tenant [test-tenant] not found\"}");
+		this.mockWebServer.enqueue(mockResponse);
+
+		ChromaApi.Tenant result = this.chromaApi.getTenant("test-tenant");
+
+		assertThat(result).isNull();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void getTenantThrowsOnOtherClientError() {
+		MockResponse mockResponse = new MockResponse().setResponseCode(HttpStatus.FORBIDDEN.value())
+			.addHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
+			.setBody("{\"error\":\"Forbidden\",\"message\":\"Access denied\"}");
+		this.mockWebServer.enqueue(mockResponse);
+
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> this.chromaApi.getTenant("test-tenant")).isInstanceOf(RuntimeException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("Access denied");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void getDatabaseReturnsNullOn404() {
+		MockResponse mockResponse = new MockResponse().setResponseCode(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND.value())
+			.addHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
+			.setBody("{\"error\":\"NotFoundError\",\"message\":\"Database [test-database] not found.\"}");
+		this.mockWebServer.enqueue(mockResponse);
+
+		ChromaApi.Database result = this.chromaApi.getDatabase("tenant", "test-database");
+
+		assertThat(result).isNull();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void getDatabaseThrowsOnOtherClientError() {
+		MockResponse mockResponse = new MockResponse().setResponseCode(HttpStatus.UNAUTHORIZED.value())
+			.addHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
+			.setBody("{\"error\":\"Unauthorized\",\"message\":\"Authentication required\"}");
+		this.mockWebServer.enqueue(mockResponse);
+
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> this.chromaApi.getDatabase("tenant", "test-database"))
+			.isInstanceOf(RuntimeException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("Authentication required");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void getCollectionThrowsOnServerError() {
+		MockResponse mockResponse = new MockResponse().setResponseCode(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.value())
+			.addHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
+			.setBody("{\"error\":\"InternalServerError\",\"message\":\"Internal server error occurred\"}");
+		this.mockWebServer.enqueue(mockResponse);
+
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> this.chromaApi.getCollection("tenant", "database", "test-collection"))
+			.isInstanceOf(RuntimeException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("Internal server error occurred");
+	}
+
+}