Predators affect prey populations by driving prey to adopt costly antipredator strategies. Spatial neophobia mitigates the risks of novel spaces by reducing space use and is inducible through exposure to short-term elevated background risk. We hypothesized that background risk influences the ability to learn safe refuge sites through decreased exploration of novel habitats; specifically, high risk constrains the ability to learn safe refuge sites. We conducted three experiments using shoals of five female guppies pre-exposed to high or low background risk. The shoals explored an eight-arm radial maze reinforced by different combinations of foraging patches, predator models, or empty arms, then were exposed to chemical alarm cue or distilled water without reinforcements. We found no evidence to support that background risk affects the speed or accuracy of the initial decision to flee following cue exposure. We saw an overall preference for arms that previously contained food over arms that were either empty or contained predator models, suggesting that prey learned safe areas. We also showed that fish given alarm cue entered predator arms more than those given distilled water, suggesting that an acute threat leads prey to make more mistakes. While there is no evidence that background risk affects space use and learning, our results indicate that guppies can learn and use safety information, while predation threats compromise their ability to use this information. Our study provides insight into the complexity of behavioural trade-offs. This has implications for conservation initiatives seeking to understand prey habitat selection.