Abstract The Nile tilapia fish ( Oreochromis niloticus ) has a high potential to be used as a model in neuroscience studies. In the present study, the preference of the Nile tilapia between a gravel-enriched (GEE), a shelter-enriched (SEE) or a non-enriched (NEE) environment was determined, for developing a place preference model. Nile tilapia had an initial preference for GEE, but after 1 day of observation, the fish stabilized their frequency of visits among compartments. Hence, any stimulus motivating tilapia increase in compartment visiting indicates a positively reinforcing effect. This feature is very useful for the development of new behavioural paradigms for fish in tests using environmental discrimination, such as the conditioning place preference test.