diff --git a/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/management/OllamaModelManager.java b/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/management/OllamaModelManager.java
index 31e2249b8..ebc736c82 100644
--- a/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/management/OllamaModelManager.java
+++ b/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/management/OllamaModelManager.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import org.springframework.ai.ollama.api.OllamaApi;
 import org.springframework.ai.ollama.api.OllamaApi.DeleteModelRequest;
 import org.springframework.ai.ollama.api.OllamaApi.ListModelResponse;
 import org.springframework.ai.ollama.api.OllamaApi.PullModelRequest;
+import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.CollectionUtils;
 import reactor.util.retry.Retry;
 
@@ -55,14 +56,28 @@ public class OllamaModelManager {
 	}
 
 	public boolean isModelAvailable(String modelName) {
+		Assert.hasText(modelName, "modelName must not be empty");
 		ListModelResponse listModelResponse = ollamaApi.listModels();
 		if (!CollectionUtils.isEmpty(listModelResponse.models())) {
-			// Not an equality check to support the implicit ":latest" tag.
-			return listModelResponse.models().stream().anyMatch(m -> m.name().contains(modelName));
+			var normalizedModelName = normalizeModelName(modelName);
+			return listModelResponse.models().stream().anyMatch(m -> m.name().equals(normalizedModelName));
 		}
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * If the name follows the format "<string>:<string>", leave it as is. If the name
+	 * follows the format "<string>" and doesn't include any ":" sign, then add ":latest"
+	 * as a suffix.
+	 */
+	private String normalizeModelName(String modelName) {
+		var modelNameWithoutSpaces = modelName.trim();
+		if (modelNameWithoutSpaces.contains(":")) {
+			return modelNameWithoutSpaces;
+		}
+		return modelNameWithoutSpaces + ":latest";
+	}
+
 	public void deleteModel(String modelName) {
 		logger.info("Start deletion of model: {}", modelName);
 		if (!isModelAvailable(modelName)) {
diff --git a/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/BaseOllamaIT.java b/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/BaseOllamaIT.java
index edb438072..635c0a16f 100644
--- a/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/BaseOllamaIT.java
+++ b/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/BaseOllamaIT.java
@@ -11,11 +11,13 @@ public class BaseOllamaIT {
 	// Toggle for running tests locally on native Ollama for a faster feedback loop.
 	private static final boolean useTestcontainers = true;
 
-	public static final OllamaContainer ollamaContainer;
+	public static OllamaContainer ollamaContainer;
 
 	static {
-		ollamaContainer = new OllamaContainer(OllamaImage.DEFAULT_IMAGE).withReuse(true);
-		ollamaContainer.start();
+		if (useTestcontainers) {
+			ollamaContainer = new OllamaContainer(OllamaImage.DEFAULT_IMAGE).withReuse(true);
+			ollamaContainer.start();
+		}
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/management/OllamaModelManagerIT.java b/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/management/OllamaModelManagerIT.java
index 52d19e6d8..ab99833ca 100644
--- a/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/management/OllamaModelManagerIT.java
+++ b/models/spring-ai-ollama/src/test/java/org/springframework/ai/ollama/management/OllamaModelManagerIT.java
@@ -63,24 +63,77 @@ class OllamaModelManagerIT extends BaseOllamaIT {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void pullAndDeleteModel() {
-		var model = "all-minilm";
-		modelManager.pullModel(model, PullModelStrategy.WHEN_MISSING);
-		var isModelAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(model);
-		assertThat(isModelAvailable).isTrue();
+	public void pullAndDeleteModelFromOllama() {
+		// Pull model with explicit version.
+		var modelWithExplicitVersion = "all-minilm:33m";
+		modelManager.deleteModel(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		modelManager.pullModel(modelWithExplicitVersion, PullModelStrategy.WHEN_MISSING);
+		var isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable).isTrue();
 
-		modelManager.deleteModel(model);
-		isModelAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(model);
-		assertThat(isModelAvailable).isFalse();
+		// Pull same model without version, which should pull the "latest" version.
+		var modelWithoutVersion = "all-minilm";
+		modelManager.deleteModel(modelWithoutVersion);
+		var isModelWithoutVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithoutVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithoutVersionAvailable).isFalse();
+		isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable).isTrue();
 
-		model = "all-minilm:latest";
-		modelManager.pullModel(model, PullModelStrategy.WHEN_MISSING);
-		isModelAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(model);
-		assertThat(isModelAvailable).isTrue();
+		modelManager.pullModel(modelWithoutVersion, PullModelStrategy.WHEN_MISSING);
+		isModelWithoutVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithoutVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithoutVersionAvailable).isTrue();
 
-		modelManager.deleteModel(model);
-		isModelAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(model);
-		assertThat(isModelAvailable).isFalse();
+		// Pull model with ":latest" suffix, with has the same effect as pulling the model
+		// without version.
+		var modelWithLatestVersion = "all-minilm:latest";
+		var isModelWithLatestVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithLatestVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithLatestVersionAvailable).isTrue();
+
+		// Final clean-up.
+		modelManager.deleteModel(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable).isFalse();
+
+		modelManager.deleteModel(modelWithLatestVersion);
+		isModelWithLatestVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithLatestVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithLatestVersionAvailable).isFalse();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void pullAndDeleteModelFromHuggingFace() {
+		// Pull model with explicit version.
+		var modelWithExplicitVersion = "hf.co/SanctumAI/Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct-GGUF:Q3_K_S";
+		modelManager.deleteModel(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		modelManager.pullModel(modelWithExplicitVersion, PullModelStrategy.WHEN_MISSING);
+		var isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable).isTrue();
+
+		// Pull same model without version, which should pull the "latest" version.
+		var modelWithoutVersion = "hf.co/SanctumAI/Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct-GGUF";
+		modelManager.deleteModel(modelWithoutVersion);
+		var isModelWithoutVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithoutVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithoutVersionAvailable).isFalse();
+		isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable).isTrue();
+
+		modelManager.pullModel(modelWithoutVersion, PullModelStrategy.WHEN_MISSING);
+		isModelWithoutVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithoutVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithoutVersionAvailable).isTrue();
+
+		// Pull model with ":latest" suffix, with has the same effect as pulling the model
+		// without version.
+		var modelWithLatestVersion = "hf.co/SanctumAI/Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct-GGUF:latest";
+		var isModelWithLatestVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithLatestVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithLatestVersionAvailable).isTrue();
+
+		// Final clean-up.
+		modelManager.deleteModel(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithExplicitVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithExplicitVersionAvailable).isFalse();
+
+		modelManager.deleteModel(modelWithLatestVersion);
+		isModelWithLatestVersionAvailable = modelManager.isModelAvailable(modelWithLatestVersion);
+		assertThat(isModelWithLatestVersionAvailable).isFalse();
 	}
 
 	@Test