diff --git a/spring-cloud-zookeeper-discovery/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/zookeeper/discovery/ZookeeperDiscoveryClient.java b/spring-cloud-zookeeper-discovery/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/zookeeper/discovery/ZookeeperDiscoveryClient.java
index c093cb77..fc0c57e5 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-zookeeper-discovery/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/zookeeper/discovery/ZookeeperDiscoveryClient.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-zookeeper-discovery/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/zookeeper/discovery/ZookeeperDiscoveryClient.java
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ import org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException;
 
 import org.springframework.cloud.client.discovery.DiscoveryClient;
 import org.springframework.cloud.zookeeper.discovery.dependency.ZookeeperDependencies;
-import org.springframework.util.ReflectionUtils;
 
 import static org.springframework.util.ReflectionUtils.rethrowRuntimeException;
 
@@ -76,8 +75,14 @@ public class ZookeeperDiscoveryClient implements DiscoveryClient {
 				instances.add(createServiceInstance(serviceIdToQuery, instance));
 			}
 			return instances;
+		} catch (KeeperException.NoNodeException e) {
+			if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				log.debug("Error getting instances from zookeeper. Possibly, no service has registered.", e);
+			}
+			// this means that nothing has registered as a service yes
+			return Collections.emptyList();
 		} catch (Exception exception) {
-			ReflectionUtils.rethrowRuntimeException(exception);
+			rethrowRuntimeException(exception);
 		}
 		return new ArrayList<>();
 	}
diff --git a/spring-cloud-zookeeper-discovery/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/zookeeper/discovery/ZookeeperDiscoveryClientTests.java b/spring-cloud-zookeeper-discovery/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/zookeeper/discovery/ZookeeperDiscoveryClientTests.java
index f604779e..36f33d51 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-zookeeper-discovery/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/zookeeper/discovery/ZookeeperDiscoveryClientTests.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-zookeeper-discovery/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/zookeeper/discovery/ZookeeperDiscoveryClientTests.java
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import org.apache.curator.x.discovery.ServiceDiscovery;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException.NoNodeException;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+import org.springframework.cloud.client.ServiceInstance;
+
 import static org.assertj.core.api.BDDAssertions.then;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
@@ -26,7 +28,7 @@ public class ZookeeperDiscoveryClientTests {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void shouldReturnEmptyWhenNoNodeException() throws Exception {
+	public void getServicesShouldReturnEmptyWhenNoNodeException() throws Exception {
 		// given:
 		ServiceDiscovery<ZookeeperInstance> serviceDiscovery = mock(ServiceDiscovery.class);
 		when(serviceDiscovery.queryForNames()).thenThrow(new NoNodeException());
@@ -36,4 +38,16 @@ public class ZookeeperDiscoveryClientTests {
 		// then:
 		then(services).isEmpty();
 	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void getInstancesshouldReturnEmptyWhenNoNodeException() throws Exception {
+		// given:
+		ServiceDiscovery<ZookeeperInstance> serviceDiscovery = mock(ServiceDiscovery.class);
+		when(serviceDiscovery.queryForInstances("myservice")).thenThrow(new NoNodeException());
+		ZookeeperDiscoveryClient discoveryClient = new ZookeeperDiscoveryClient(serviceDiscovery, null);
+		// when:
+		List<ServiceInstance> instances = discoveryClient.getInstances("myservice");
+		// then:
+		then(instances).isEmpty();
+	}
 }