Goldfish standards were developed in Great Britain at the turn of the century and were primarily used to select, and then to judge, goldfish at specialty-goldfish shows.  The current standards in use in the U.K. are shown as a reference.

U.S. based goldfish standards were originally developed by the Aquarium Society of Philadelphia in the 1920s for reasons similar to those used in the U.K.

These original goldfish standards contained point systems that changed by variety type, making it difficult to compare fish in different varieties, and forcing judges to use a point based system, which had to be added-up to determine best in variety and best in show winners.

The GFSA, led by Bob Mertlich,  developed a series of Breed Guidelines in 1988.  These guidelines were the first attempt by the GFSA to produce a set of usable judging and selection criteria for goldfish hobbyists in the U.S., and served as the starting point for the goldfish standards, which were developed in the mid-nineties.

In the mid-nineties, the Goldfish Society of America developed a system which simplified the selection criteria and point system for goldfish varieties.  This system is used throughout the United States as the basis for selecting and judging goldfish.