diff --git a/activerecord/test/cases/tasks/database_tasks_test.rb b/activerecord/test/cases/tasks/database_tasks_test.rb
index f7c53b580149c3848bbbf3377c6b699c75f7c420..5653fd83fd8405b8430c95f8a44ddb509177f391 100644
--- a/activerecord/test/cases/tasks/database_tasks_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/cases/tasks/database_tasks_test.rb
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ def setup
       @configurations = { "development" => { "database" => "my-db" } }
 
       ActiveRecord::Base.stubs(:configurations).returns(@configurations)
+      # To refrain from connecting to a newly created empty DB in sqlite3_mem tests
+      ActiveRecord::Base.connection_handler.stubs(:establish_connection)
     end
 
     def test_ignores_configurations_without_databases