Docker how to use service name in .env file?

I have 2 Docker containers spawned from 2 different docker-composer.yml files;

• container-1 (Laradock container with Laravel app)
• container-2 (container with rest api)

I linked them both in the same network, but in my Laravel .env inside container-1, if I try and reference a service inside container-2 as a host var (to send requests to the API), it doesn't work.

I checked with docker network inspect my_network and confirmed that container-1 and container-2 are both connected to it, but when I try and make requests the host env doesn't get swapped out so it just ends up calling <env>:443

Any docker experts here who can help me with solving this? Thanks!