diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 3b9191528de5aa7393365f818950019ada2c8e4a..d79832c2a00055ef3053956f5f860d0978c22ee1 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -96,16 +96,6 @@ python-3.8:
 
     - pytest
 
-# test example on python 3.6
-python-3.6:
-  stage: test
-  needs: ["basic-3.7", "precommits-py3.7"]
-  image: quay.io/bilbydev/v2-dockerfile-test-suite-python36
-  script:
-    - python -m pip install .
-
-    - pytest
-
 # test samplers on python 3.7
 python-3.7-samplers:
   stage: test
@@ -116,15 +106,15 @@ python-3.7-samplers:
 
     - pytest test/integration/sampler_run_test.py --durations 10
 
-# test samplers on python 3.6
-python-3.6-samplers:
+# test samplers on python 3.8
+python-3.8-samplers:
   stage: test
   needs: ["basic-3.7", "precommits-py3.7"]
-  image: quay.io/bilbydev/v2-dockerfile-test-suite-python36
+  image: quay.io/bilbydev/v2-dockerfile-test-suite-python38
   script:
     - python -m pip install .
 
-    - pytest test/integration/sampler_run_test.py
+    - pytest test/integration/sampler_run_test.py --durations 10
 
 # Test containers are up to date
 containers:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index f36b59bd680073fb01fd3f825377c7817a313601..6d3db7d657f90c0ffd9c8cb552a29f3997e7dfc7 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -9,3 +9,5 @@ mock
 dill
 tqdm
 h5py
+tables
+astropy<4.3
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index abb0a8cc346f3cfa66c5565c2d834392a8c3dbf5..d0594a673aeba14655d18345c26a212d797f6268 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,11 +5,10 @@ import subprocess
 import sys
 import os
 
-# check that python version is 3.6 or above
+# check that python version is 3.7 or above
 python_version = sys.version_info
-if python_version < (3, 6):
-    sys.exit("Python < 3.6 is not supported, aborting setup")
-print("Confirmed Python version {}.{}.{} >= 3.6.0".format(*python_version[:3]))
+if python_version < (3, 7):
+    sys.exit("Python < 3.7 is not supported, aborting setup")
 
 
 def write_version_file(version):