Optimized protocol for conditioned place avoidance learning in juvenile zebrafish

Conditioned place avoidance assays are broadly used in mammals to study different cognitive aspects of operant learning. Here, we introduce a series of experimental designs for training juvenile zebrafish in short-term and long-term conditioned place avoidance assays. Our goal is to promote standardization of animal handling procedures and setup conditions to improve animal welfare and reproducibility while studying operant learning behaviors in juvenile zebrafish. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Palumbo et al. (2020).