diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/tables/3.5.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/tables/3.5.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4cca72aa313
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/tables/3.5.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+{ stdenv, lib, fetchPypi, python, buildPythonPackage
+, cython, bzip2, lzo, numpy, numexpr, hdf5, six, c-blosc, mock }:
+
+with stdenv.lib;
+
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  version = "3.5.2";
+  pname = "tables";
+
+  src = fetchPypi {
+    inherit pname version;
+    sha256 = "1hikrki0hx94ass31pn0jyz9iy0zhnkjacfk86m21cxsc8if685j";
+  };
+
+  buildInputs = [ hdf5 cython bzip2 lzo c-blosc ];
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ numpy numexpr six mock ];
+
+  # The setup script complains about missing run-paths, but they are
+  # actually set.
+  setupPyBuildFlags = [
+    "--hdf5=${getDev hdf5}"
+    "--lzo=${getDev lzo}"
+    "--bzip2=${getDev bzip2}"
+    "--blosc=${getDev c-blosc}"
+  ];
+  # Run the test suite.
+  # It requires the build path to be in the python search path.
+  # These tests take quite some time.
+  # If the hdf5 library is built with zlib then there is only one
+  # test-failure. That is the same failure as described in the following
+  # github issue:
+  #     https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/269
+  checkPhase = ''
+    ${python.interpreter} <<EOF
+    import sysconfig
+    import sys
+    import os
+    f = "lib.{platform}-{version[0]}.{version[1]}"
+    lib = f.format(platform=sysconfig.get_platform(),
+                   version=sys.version_info)
+    build = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'build', lib)
+    sys.path.insert(0, build)
+    import tables
+    r = tables.test()
+    if not r.wasSuccessful():
+        sys.exit(1)
+    EOF
+  '';
+
+  # Disable tests until the failure described above is fixed.
+  doCheck = false;
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "Hierarchical datasets for Python";
+    homepage = http://www.pytables.org/;
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd2;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 2e02241d304..e3ec44aefc7 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -1234,7 +1234,9 @@ in {
 
   supervise_api = callPackage ../development/python-modules/supervise_api { };
 
-  tables = callPackage ../development/python-modules/tables {
+  tables = if isPy3k then callPackage ../development/python-modules/tables {
+    hdf5 = pkgs.hdf5.override { zlib = pkgs.zlib; };
+  } else callPackage ../development/python-modules/tables/3.5.nix {
     hdf5 = pkgs.hdf5.override { zlib = pkgs.zlib; };
   };