diff --git a/requirements-min.txt b/requirements-min.txt
index 6b1b012ab..30262c63b 100644
--- a/requirements-min.txt
+++ b/requirements-min.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-# these minimum requirements specify '==' for testing; setup.py replaces '==' with '>='
-h5py==2.9  # support for setting attrs to lists of utf-8 added in 2.9
-hdmf==2.5
-numpy==1.16
-pandas==0.23
-python-dateutil==2.7
+# package dependencies and their minimum versions for installing PyNWB (note that HDMF has a range of requirements)
+# the requirements here specify '==' for testing; setup.py replaces '==' with '>='
+h5py==2.9,<3  # support for setting attrs to lists of utf-8 added in 2.9
+hdmf==2.5.1,<3
+numpy==1.16,<1.21
+pandas==0.23,<2
+python-dateutil==2.7,<3
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 370109de1..74336520a 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 h5py==2.10.0
-hdmf==2.5.0
+hdmf==2.5.1
 numpy==1.18.5
 pandas==0.25.3
 python-dateutil==2.8.1
diff --git a/src/pynwb/__init__.py b/src/pynwb/__init__.py
index 7c4e1ea20..4f73d034a 100644
--- a/src/pynwb/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pynwb/__init__.py
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ def get_sum(self, a, b):
 
     """
     neurodata_type, namespace = getargs('neurodata_type', 'namespace', kwargs)
-    return __TYPE_MAP.get_container_cls(neurodata_type, namespace)
+    return __TYPE_MAP.get_dt_container_cls(neurodata_type, namespace)
 
 
 @docval({'name': 'io', 'type': HDMFIO, 'doc': 'the HDMFIO object to read from'},
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_extension.py b/tests/unit/test_extension.py
index 600832a01..abfe96bf5 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_extension.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_extension.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def test_load_namespace(self):
     def test_get_class(self):
         self.test_export()
         type_map = get_type_map(extensions=os.path.join(self.tempdir, self.ns_path))
-        type_map.get_container_cls('TetrodeSeries', self.prefix)
+        type_map.get_dt_container_cls('TetrodeSeries', self.prefix)
 
     def test_load_namespace_with_reftype_attribute(self):
         ns_builder = NWBNamespaceBuilder('Extension for use in my Lab', self.prefix, version='0.1.0')
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def test_load_namespace_with_reftype_attribute_check_autoclass_const(self):
         ns_builder.add_spec(self.ext_source, test_ds_ext)
         ns_builder.export(self.ns_path, outdir=self.tempdir)
         type_map = get_type_map(extensions=os.path.join(self.tempdir, self.ns_path))
-        my_new_type = type_map.get_container_cls('my_new_type', self.prefix)
+        my_new_type = type_map.get_dt_container_cls('my_new_type', self.prefix)
         docval = None
         for tmp in get_docval(my_new_type.__init__):
             if tmp['name'] == 'target_ds':