diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/aplpy/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/aplpy/default.nix
index a173a58032d9..9710dc9f9a65 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/aplpy/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/aplpy/default.nix
@@ -11,14 +11,14 @@
 , pillow
 , scikitimage
 , shapely
+, pytest
+, pytest-astropy
 }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   pname = "aplpy";
   version = "2.0.3";
 
-  doCheck = false; # tests require pytest-astropy
-
   src = fetchPypi {
     pname = "APLpy";
     inherit version;
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
   propagatedBuildInputs = [
     numpy
     astropy
-    astropy-helpers
     matplotlib
     reproject
     pyavm
@@ -38,11 +37,21 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     shapely
   ];
 
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ astropy-helpers ];
+
+  checkInputs = [ pytest pytest-astropy ];
+
   # Disable automatic update of the astropy-helper module
   postPatch = ''
     substituteInPlace setup.cfg --replace "auto_use = True" "auto_use = False"
   '';
 
+  # Tests must be run in the build directory
+  checkPhase = ''
+    cd build/lib
+    pytest
+  '';
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "The Astronomical Plotting Library in Python";
     homepage = http://aplpy.github.io;